Project Download
by MangoRamune
Summary: As a result of Project Download, half the real world and half the digital world vanish, replaced by an entirely different one. As the chosen children rush to reclaim their world and their friends, a mysterious benefactor lends them his aid, forgotten evils stir, and the powers of the digimon and pokemon worlds collide in unthinkable ways. Reviews Welcome.
1. Chapter 1

The image was beautiful.

Koushiro glanced up at it for what must have been the hundredth time. He was busy. He should be focused on what he was doing. At least, that's what he told himself as he forced his eyes back to his laptop. Lines upon lines of script scrolled endlessly on the screen, driven by the ceaseless _tik-tik-tak_ of his fingers on the keyboard. In a separate window, lines of data in the code of the digital world blurred by undisturbed. His digivice hummed against his leg where it was connected to the computer like a tiny external hard drive. It had seen about as much rest as he had in the past four years.

"Koushiro," a voice buzzed from his computer. "The coordinates 156,27 should be 146,27."

He mumbled an acknowledging response, and reversed the script until he found the coordinate error. With a window change and a quick motion of his fingers, he made the correction. His eyes flicked up to the image again. The dimensions had changed, albeit slightly.

"Thanks, Tentomon."

The image, which was a rip in the fabric of the real world for the moment, was one of a set of sixteen that currently littered the globe, and one of three that were not yet stabilized. They reflected pieces of the digital world, so much like the ones that had appeared shortly after the first time they had defeated Vamdemon. Once stabilized, they had no ability to interact with the real world; harmless mirages awaiting the finale of the project. Koushiro had gone around the world to personally perform the stabilizations himself. Tentomon, Miyako, and Ken helped him from the digital world, correcting coordinates, making sure the environment was neutral, and sometimes poking their heads where they didn't belong just to be doubly sure they weren't near anything sensitive.

Miyako's prematurely triumphant voice burst from his speakers. "Bingo! We're in the green!"

Koushiro licked his lips, and ran his fingers through his hair. It was getting long again.

_Tik-tik-tak._

Phantom sparks erupted from the sky. The image warped as though it might explode, but Koushiro remained seated. For no reason they'd been able to decipher, the images always reacted with bursts of energy and distortion. But this one, as all of them eventually had, settled down into something as immaterial as a rainbow. The edges rippled quietly and evenly, like the surface of a pond. The stabilization was a success.

Koushiro released the breath he'd been holding to the sound of Miyako, Hawkmon, and Wormmon celebrating in the background.

Ken was the only one remained calm enough to speak. "What's next?"

"One in Odaiba and another off the coast of Hokkaido, at the Kuril Isles."

"Saving the best for last?"

A nostalgic smile spread on Koushiro's face. "Yeah."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow then."

They exchanged reminders not to over-exert themselves on their travels, and Koushiro closed his laptop.

The digivice plugged into the side went quiet. Koushiro disconnected it, holding it tightly in his hand. He looked up at the mirage, shimmering harmlessly in the atmosphere over the caldera of Mt. Aso, and his smile widened to a grin. He closed his laptop and fell idly back into the grass. The opportunity to relax and be proud of their achievement had become rare as the project sped towards its close. Particularly in the past four weeks. They had opened up the sixteen ports less than two months ago, and as much as they'd have liked to take at least ninety days to stabilize them, nobody wanted the unstable objects occupying their airspace. So the digidestined had cut it to sixty. It would have been less if possible, but the ports were out in the middle of nowhere by design. Koushiro had been working for mere hours, but getting to the particular location on the rim of far side of the caldera, away from civilization and the still-active Mt. Naka where there was no way to arrive unless he hiked had taken him half a day. The shortest trek yet. Despite his aching muscles, he was bubbling over with joy. The sky was full of bright clouds, the sunlight was warm, the wind was cool, and they were close. So very close.

A shadow fell over him. "This is new. I'm not sure I've ever seen you so giddy over nothing."

He looked up, and saw Jyou standing there with a twinkle in his eye and two mildly cool cans of tea in his hands. "What do you mean 'nothing'? We're two days away from completion. This is big, Jyou!"

Jyou smiled widely, and Koushiro couldn't help laughing. Time and adulthood hadn't done anything for Jyou. He looked even more harmless than when they first met. Over the course of the project, Jyou had been Koushiro's assistant when college wasn't keeping him busy. When it was, they gave him the kind of work that was important but could be easily moved around in case of time constraints. When they'd come to the final stabilization phase, Jyou had taken a break after graduation instead of moving directly to graduate level studies, just to travel with Koushiro and watch the dream come true. However, Jyou had a much more important responsibility than just observing.

"Did you manage to work out the supervision issue we were having?"

Jyou paused midway though handing Koushiro the tea. "I thought you were supposed to work that out."

The blood drained from Koushiro's face. It must've been visible, because it was Jyou's turn to laugh. He was no less wimpy, but his sense of humor had improved over the years. If such bad jokes could be called improvement. Koushiro took the tea and gulped it down while looking pointedly away from Jyou.

"Easy, Koushiro. I really did handle it, and it worked out nicely."

Jyou pulled a tube out of his bag—the one thing that hadn't changed; he was always prepared—and pulled a gigantic rolled map from it. It was marked up in a messy, unintelligible fashion, but the margins were full of neatly written notes and a key that somehow made everything understandable. Jyou set rocks on the edges to keep it from rolling up, and squatted down to explain.

"As you know, we got the food and water situation all sorted. Digidestined from the nearest cities, marked with an X as you see here, have been keeping an eye on everyone. I'll be staying at the Kuril anchor, with enough canned food to last unless something goes wrong. The real problem was there just weren't enough people to trust with this on such short notice. If you count all the digidestined we know who are seasoned enough to handle any emergencies, there's fourteen with Michael and Wallace included. You're head of stabilization, and Miyako, Ken, and I have been with you the whole way, so we don't count. It would never work."

"The suspense is killing me, Jyou."

Jyou cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed at his own rambling. "Michael and Betamon are on the two sides in the Yukon, and Wallace and Terriermon are on the two sides in Colorado. Daisuke and V-mon are in Brazil, with Centalmon on the other side. Iori and Armadimon are in Argentina, with Andromon on the other side. Yamato and Gabumon went here, to Greenland. A Yukidarumon is watching the other side." He looked up at Koushiro, with his finger against the Antarctic Peninsula. "I got a group of Mojyamon to oversee the digital world side, but..."

Koushiro nodded understandingly. "Even we ended up stabilizing that anchor with unrelated bystanders present. It's too big of a risk to be isolated out there."

"Right. Let's see... The Tibetan and Indian anchors are very close to one another, so Mimi and Palmon are watching both and the Gekomon are helping them out from the digital world. Sora and Piyomon are on the west coast of Australia with the Yokomon from Gear Savannah on the other side. The Russian digidestined Miyako connected with before are watching over both sides of the anchor on Morzhovets Island." He paused, tracing his fingers idly toward Africa and the UK while he scanned the rest of the map to be sure he hadn't missed anything. "Sorry, it's a lot to keep track of."

Koushiro grinned over the last of his tea. "Getting senile?"

Jyou ignored him. "Taichi and Hikari are in Africa. They're matched with their partners up on the two sides of the Kilimanjaro and Madagascar anchors."

"Kilimanjaro is one thing; there are people everywhere around that mountain. Madagascar isn't as dangerous as say, the Australian wilderness, but still." He scowled at the markings. "They should both have their partners with them. That's the kind of recklessness I'd expect from Taichi, but Hikari?"

"For better or worse, she's becomes a little more like Taichi these past few years." Jyou began to roll up the map. "Takeru is in Spain with Patamon. You'd never believe me if I told you who they're working with. Miyako will be coming here to Kumamoto to supervise this anchor. I'll be staying in Hokkaido and you and Ken will be on your own for the one in Odaiba."

Koushiro couldn't resist. "Who's working with Takeru and Patamon?"

Jyou paused in the middle of putting the map back into a cardboard tube. "Hmm... I seem to have forgotten." He sported a mischievous smirk, more like Gomamon's than his own. "Maybe I'm getting senile."

Koushiro sighed, graciously accepting the results of his earlier jab. He collected his things, and got up to follow Jyou. It was a long way back to the Kumamoto Prefecture. As curious as he was, he would need to save his breath until they got back to the road. He couldn't recall anyone really outrageous who might be helping out in Spain. He looked up, and Jyou was grinning at him. He grinned back, despite himself. Ten years and a grueling project that consumed the last four of them had done nothing to their friendship but make it stronger. They were getting older, and more serious, and it felt good that the little jokes still mattered so much. He took a glance back at the mirage hovering quietly in the sky over the caldera. It was the dream of the digidestined, so close to life. The result of Project Download that they began on their own, funded on their own, worked through in the face of endless frustrations on their own, and would soon end on their own.

It was beautiful.

* * *

**Notes:**

I'd received several reviews on the previous version involving confusion regarding Japanese vs English naming confusion, but never considered what or whether I should do something about that. A thank you to Teraunce who provided the logical answer: a simple name conversion guide. I may do this for digimon as they appear in later chapters, but the only digimon with exceptionally different names are Vamdemon (Myotismon) and Tailmon (Gatomon).

Taichi- Tai

Hikari- Kari

Yamato- Matt

Takeru- TK

Koushiro- Izzy

Jyou- Joe

Sora Takenouchi as is

Mimi Tachikawa as is

Miyako- Yolei

Daisuke- Davis

Iori- Cody

Ken Ichijouji as is


	2. Chapter 2

On the Habomai islands, the sky was not quite dark, but the sun wasn't up either.

Koushiro's cell phone was vibrating toward the edge of the nightstand. He slammed it down, managed to wrap his fumbling fingers around it, and squinted at the number. He mumbled something incoherent and answered it. "Ichijouji…Do you know what time it is?"

Ken's voice, while gentle as it had ever been, had an incredible warmth to it that morning. "It's 5:30. You asked me to make sure you didn't oversleep and miss your flights."

"Flights...?" Koushiro rubbed his eyes, and checked the calendar on his phone. Suddenly, he wasn't sleepy anymore. "It's today…We finish the project today!" He looked over at Jyou, who was rubbing his eyes and fumbling for his glasses. "How did we manage to fall asleep?"

Ken laughed softly. "Don't be surprised. We've been working so hard we're all a bit narcoleptic these days. Don't be late, Izumi."

Ken hung up, and Koushiro bolted from his bed. A frigid, rudimentary shower later he was falling over he and Jyou's bags as he dashed around the flat he barely remembered paying some border gaurds to occupy. The island was uninhabited due to a territory dispute between Russia and Japan, and consequentially, there was no electricity. Breakfast was a glass of lukewarm orange juice and two pieces of untoasted bread that Koushiro finished wolfing down right as Jyou appeared in his pajamas with a travel cup that no doubt held tea made on the shoddy little wood stove that had nonetheless kept them warm all night. He was still mostly asleep, and his hair stuck out in a wild cobalt bird's nest that might've been worse if he didn't braid it before bed. There was a tiny, groggy smile on his face.

"Good luck."

Koushiro nodded, took the tea, and dashed out.

The passenger plane that delivered Koushiro to Hokkaido kept him alert; there was something about flying in the equivalent of a modified crop dusting plane that made him appreciate his mortality. He wasn't able to calm down until he passed through the gates of the Chitose airport, and he slept for most of his flight to Tokyo. However, upon waking to discover they were beginning their descent, anticipation whipped through him like a burst of electricity.

Project Download was their endeavor to bring the digital word and the real world closer together by just a fraction, and it would be over soon. It all began when Ken started reading Koushiro's old theories about the digital world. That they were essentially two sides of the same world still held true. The digital world was just a step weirder and composed mostly of data. Together, they had come up with the theory that downloading patches of the digital world to the real world might work. They would be like large gates that were always open. It was a sound, and eventually executable theory that would be rewarding both for the digimon and for their partners.

So much of what stood in their way in the beginning had been politics. Too many governments had a skewed view of what digimon were, and the digidestined couldn't get them to understand. After all, despite being recognized for their feats, they were still just children when they began taking the idea seriously. For a long time, no one from the real world would even entertain them. It took extensive time and effort and stubbornness and the creation of a barely functional alpha version of the gate program, but their voice was eventually heard.

When it came down to it, real world authorities and digital world authorities shared most of the same basic worries about the project; no one wanted random humans getting into the digital world or random digimon wandering into the real world. If anyone could come and go, it wouldn't be long before somebody caused trouble, whether accidentally or with malicious intent. Thus came the endless tweaking to ensure that only humans with partners were capable of going in or out of the downloaded area. On the other side of that coin, digimon were much larger and more powerful than the average real world animal, especially as they matured. To that end, digimon with partners could come and go, but only if they were child level, or the rare adult—as was the case with Tailmon—below a very strict size and raw power requirement. This was seen as fair and safe to the authorities in both worlds, and had been the policy which really allowed Project Download to begin.

Human politics reared its uglier side in response.

In the digital world, there had only been Gennai and sometimes Qinlongmon who would discuss the project with them. They were practical and reasonable, and all they wanted was strict adherence to two rules:

They were not to download areas near the seeds of light that were taking the place of the former holy stones.

They were not to download areas within fifty miles of Primary Village.

In the real world, there were any number of humans with secret agendas and the rush to capitalize on the project was sometimes so obvious that it was painful to see. One country actually began intentionally seeking children who had no partners, with the intent of having them agree to be of military use if they ever obtained one, knowing full well that the integration would heighten the chances of even the most innocuous child suddenly having a partner digimon. Naturally, this caused a global rush to enlist potential partners. The Project had ground to a dead halt for nearly six months in response, much to the horror of the greed-driven. Some threatened them, others pleaded, more still tried to woo them to continue with promises of funding and supplies and backing that they had refused to accept from the very beginning.

The central ideology of the whole thing was that it was their dream, coming true by their hand. They wanted a world of peaceful co-existence, and they had taken the time to create a simple public address on the matter courtesy of Daisuke and Taichi. Every human and digimon partner was called to meet in a single location, and global leaders gathered at the UN to hear them speak via broadcast. That day, the digidestined as an entity made a solemn statement led by Takeru and Ken, who knew what it was to lose their partners. The digidestined would not act as a personal army for their countries if they brought harm upon themselves while trying to abuse the digital world. They would not allow digimon to be used in human wars, and they would not allow humans without partners to get involved in any problems the digital world might have. Anyone found compiling suspicious information would be brought before Zhuqiaomon. No digidestined had yet encountered him, but Qinlongmon referred to him as a Harmonious one who was a harsh judge, especially on humans. If they were innocent, they would have nothing to fear, but he would make an example of the guilty.

The agreements and truces that had certainly been made with sinister intentions were rendered null, and companies (mostly) stopped trying to buy their favor with funding. It still felt like there were people watching from the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to seize the reigns, but it was nonetheless a crowning moment for the digidestined. They had moved not as saviors of the world, but as an entity defending their place within it.

Since then, the sailing had been relatively smooth. Mimi, Sora, and Yamato had done most of the major fundraising. It was their luck that the only thing they really needed money for was a building and a bunch of high end computer components. After building the computer that allowed the trial and error part of the Project to happen, the major tasks were just building relations and picking the locations.

"We have now landed at Haneda Airport," spoke a perky, but professional flight attendant. "The temperature in the Tokyo area is currently 27° C, with minimal cloud cover. The temperature will reach a high of 31° C today, so remember to drink plenty of fluids, do not over-exert yourself, and avoid spending long periods directly exposed to the sun. Enjoy your stay."

Impatience coursed through Koushiro's veins as he waited his turn to exit. Odaiba was so close he could barely contain himself.

On the train, he thought excitedly of the three years of testing and small scale execution. It was an endless stream of bugs and dead ends and frustration, but it was worth it. A few countries had asked for disclosure of their research, but it was firmly denied, even at the cost of straining the relations that had been so carefully built. It was simply too dangerous, especially with the project unfinished, particularly due to the anomaly that was the prototype gate. Several someones had grown desperate and tried forcing their way in, but every attempt was easily dispelled. Gennai and the other Agents kept them safe on that front. They had, however, allowed representatives to see the machine. The body of it, with server included, was a monster that took up an entire room and transformed it into a jungle of wires and various cooling systems. It was capable of being in one of the most powerful computers on Earth, but only with the addition of components they had never bothered to obtain. Without them, it was just a hyper-efficient piece of machinery able to perform their task. They liked it that way.

Koushiro's laptop was no such serious beast. He didn't carry much in the way of confidential information on it, and what was there was under Gennai's constant watch. He opened it for a peek. Behind all of the icons and files that were mostly unintelligible notes, his desktop was the picture taken at Primary Village in 1999. The photograph had always been important to him, but lately it had crossed into that strange territory of feeling that Tentomon occupied. He loved it, and it took him by surprise the extent to which it was true. At the successful end of Project Download, they would all get together again for a new picture; one that would include the entire team. The idea made his heart swell to the point that he felt tears threaten him, but he couldn't name the sensation filling him.

"Odaiba," the train voice chimed.

Nostalgia filled Koushiro's head as he stepped onto the platform. He could see the image of the digital world hovering over Tokyo Bay. Only the bay and some of the smaller islands in it were going to be downloaded over. The only reason they even dared to put an anchor point so close to average people was because of the concentration of digidestined in the area. That and it was just a significant location, not unlike Hikarigaoka.

He chose a spot that was reasonably quiet, where he could see the image clearly. The temperatures were soaring, and he knew the day would only get hotter the longer he took. He stared up at the image, and thought of the fifteen others that were already stable, and the friends who watched over them. He thought of his mother and father at home, praying for his success, and his mother and father in heaven, whom he silently asked to watch over him. His digivice glowed as he plugged it into his laptop, and Ken immediately greeted him.

"Ready, Koushiro?"

He smiled gamely. "Let's do it."

For the last time, Koushiro's eyes watched the rapid scrolling of code on his screen. It was harder to stabilize than the others, but they had predicted it would be that way. Not only was it the last of the set, but it was the most irregular. Odaiba was an artificial island, so the digital world geography was even more bizarre than usual. The angles protruded in nonsensical ways, and the correct coordinates to finalize were hard to determine. If they were only right in the real world, it would definitely cause problems. The other problem was the tiny patches of land in the bay. Some of them were not included in the download area, so there were exclusion coordinates to be determined. As they neared completion, holes appeared in the image. They checked, double checked, and then checked three or four more times before they were confident that everything was parallel. Koushiro entered the appropriate script, and the image bulged and warped and sparked and finally...it settled. All sixteen ports were now stable.

After a short, breathless silence, Wormmon spoke.

"The rest is up to you, Koushiro."

A weight dropped onto Koushiro's shoulders, and he felt his heart race in his chest. He tried to reply, but his tongue was knotted up in his suddenly dry mouth. He took a deep breath. All their work would end here, where the realization of their dream would begin. Even though his heart was racing, the last line of coding flowed from his fingers like music. He glanced up at the mirage, glanced down at his digivice, and braced himself to press the final key...

ENTER.

The mirage locked into the coordinates they had provided. In the sky, it looked bizarre and distorted, but as it descended into its place, it looked more and more like it belonged. If not for the strange flora and the occasional oversized or misplaced piece of technology growing out of the ground, no one would ever know they were looking at the digital world. There were no splashes, no crashes of thunder, or any sense that a different world had essentially just been dropped on top of theirs. Even his digivice was a silent spectator. The digiworld settled with no fireworks. It was maddeningly anticlimactic, but at the same time, the utter normality with which it all occurred was unnerving. It was like getting a needle for the first time and being ready for earth-splitting pain and feeling nothing at all. Koushiro had scarcely realized he wasn't breathing until he gasped at the sight of a giant red beetle that could only be Tentomon flying toward him.

"It worked," Ken's voice murmured from the computer. "It worked! I can see Odaiba! We did it, Koushiro!"

Koushiro stood, and watched Tentomon approach with a slack jaw. He could hear Wormmon and Ken laughing, and the sound of e-mails flooding his mailbox. It was like a song someone had composed just for this moment. He forgot about the scorching temperatures. He forgot the exhaustion of trekking to and from incredibly remote locations and being almost constantly on the move. He forgot about all the frustration and the bugs, and the senseless greed for power that, at times, staggered his will to continue the project. Tentomon was the first of the digimon crossing the divide to be with his chosen child, and Koushiro was too amazed to do anything but stare. They'd done it. Their four year dream had finally come true. The Digital World was here.

A chill ran over him.

Tentomon stopped in midair and started to look around frantically. The downloaded area started to glow red…orange…and finally a scorching white. The ground started to shake, and a band of red light arced across the suddenly dark sky.

A voice whispered so low he could scarcely hear it. "Ten…mon…"

"Ten...Tentomon?" Koushiro looked back to the bay, but Tentomon was gone. "Tentomon?!"

The red band completed its circle and connected with itself, and then there was a roar of thunder, powerful enough to shake the earth. A shock wave rolled lazily over the horizon. Koushiro could see the dust and debris on it, and it seemed like he could feel heat pressing him back even from so far away. He scooped up his laptop, and hurried away, but he had no idea where to run. His eyes darted frantically, looking for some kind of shelter. He had to go somewhere low, maybe underground, but there was no place nearby.

"…shiro…"

That whisper again. He couldn't find the source no matter how he tried, but he could just make out a shimmer in the direction it had come from. He checked over his shoulder, and saw the shock wave approaching. Options were depleting with every second, so he took the chance, and followed the shimmer. It led him little more than a block away, to a school. The doors weren't locked. Summer classes were probably in-session. In a different situation, he might've crept in to avoid being seen, but he didn't have the time. He ran inside and went down as many flights of stairs as he could, into whatever doors were unlocked. He squeezed himself into a corner in a supply closet. The shock wave arrived.

He gripped his laptop to his chest and stuck his head between his knees. He heard glass shatter and the shrill screams of middle school kids in the building from the floors above him. As if he were back in middle school himself, he thought desperately of his mother and father.


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of Ken's voice and footsteps stirred Koushiro, drawing him back to reality. He was sure he hadn't fallen asleep or passed out, but he felt that he had been less than conscious for some time. His laptop was warm, but the sensation of the fan humming was absent. He hoped he hadn't overheated it. With a hand still gnarled in the shape for gripping his laptop, he pushed the door open. When he tried to move his legs they tingled painfully. After being curled up so tightly for who knew how long, his body was not feeling cooperative.

His voice, at least, worked fine. "Ken! In here!"

"Koushiro?" Footsteps approached. Ken's face appeared in the doorway. "Koushiro! Thank goodness...!"

He held out a hand. "How long has it been? How did you get here?"

Ken pulled Koushiro up, and lent the momentarily disabled boy his shoulder. "I don't know exactly how long it's been. I was out for a little while and when I woke up, the gateway wasn't glowing anymore. I couldn't get a hold of you, so I came through and followed my D3 to you."

"That wasn't smart, Ken. Whatever happened with the light and the sparks and the..." Koushiro's eyes widened. "There was a quake! Is everyone okay?"

Ken nodded, and did his best to smile reassuringly. "There was one in the digital world too, but the digital world didn't suffer much and neither did Odaiba. People were probably just surprised. We easily caused more destruction when we would fight digimon that had come to the real world..." He trailed off, and his smile wilted.

Koushiro took notice, but said nothing. If Ken was here it meant the gates were at least functional, but something was amiss. There was a permeating sensation of defeat, even though they had technically done what they set out to do.

"Ken…Was there something we overlooked?"

Ken didn't answer, and they made their way out of the building in a thick silence. If Koushiro really had heard people screaming, they had already evacuated, but the school still looked fine. Summer sessions would probably still be on for tomorrow.

It was no longer dark outside, but something was strange. The sky was so brilliantly blue that it was almost white, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. It made the red arc all the more visible. There were two of them now, and binary code scrolled between them in a series of searing red ones and zeroes. He realized with a shock everything beneath it was just a mirror image. Far away, where it was aligned with the ground, he could see a perfect reflection of the sky, the sea, and Odaiba.

"Koushiro!"

It was Tentomon. He'd been waiting on the steps with Wormmon, and he nearly tackled them in his relief. Koushiro let go of Ken and held his partner close. He was trembling, and Koushiro wasn't faring much better.

"I'm so glad you're alright…"

"Did you hear the voice too, Koushiro?"

Koushiro nodded, and looked at Tentomon seriously. "Do you know what it was?"

Tentomon shook his head, and Koushiro looked to Ken. He was staring at the binary code with far away eyes.

"Ken?"

"I think you should talk to your mother. She called me while I was looking for you, and she was very frightened."

A dim unease squirmed in Koushiro's chest, but he was not certain where it originated. He excused himself a short distance, and dug his phone out of his pocket. The unease swelled into queasiness. His inbox was full of texts, and he didn't doubt that if it could contain more than 200 messages, he would have many more. Missed call alerts were similarly numerous, and he couldn't even think about the number of voicemail messages he might have. He scrolled through them numbly, looking at the names. Yamato. Takeru. Miyako. Government officials. Project supporters. His parents. They had been calling him repeatedly, despite knowing he silenced his phone when he was doing on-site work.

A loud ring snapped him out of his daze, startling him so that he almost dropped it. A photo of his parents beaming while he smiled sheepishly greeted him when he flipped it open. He answered hastily. "Mom!"

"Koushiro!"

His father's voice. Tense and relieved all at once. In the background, he could hear his mother approaching, sobbing questions he couldn't quite make out. His father turning away from the phone to reassure her. He wanted to say something to calm them both down but he found he had no idea what to say.

There was a shuffle. The phone was changing hands. "Kou-chan? Are you alright? Are you safe?"

"I'm fine. I took shelter and..." He couldn't imagine telling his mother he'd blacked out while she was so shaken. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Kou-chan. Do you think this is fixable?"

He sighed. "I don't know... I wish I had some idea what caused this result. The good news is Ken immediately came to find me, so technically this was a success. I just don't know what that red arc is supposed to be...or why it's reflective."

"...You don't know."

The queasiness heightened into a querulous nausea. "What?"

His mother's distant whisper of 'He doesn't know'. The phone shuffling as it exchanged hands again.

"Ken didn't tell you, Koushiro?"

His teeth set on edge, and he stared hard at Ken. Koushiro did not like to be kept in the dark, and Ken knew it. "Tell me what?"

"It..." A deep, shaky breath. "The world on the other side of that reflection is gone, Koushiro."

Koushiro said nothing.

"That thing goes all the way around the world. Everything south of it is just...gone. They're asking people not to go near it—"

"Who is 'they'?"

"Eh? Just the police."

He glanced at the time. He really hadn't been out that long. "I have to go, Dad. I have to try and figure this out before panic sinks in. Stay off the street if things get crazy." His next words came out softly and sincerely, in startling contrast to his brusque parting. "Stay safe."

He flipped his phone closed, and looked up at the arc. After a long silence, he turned to Ken. "Everything south of it?"

Ken listed the names of the countries and continents that had gone missing behind the wall. South America. Africa. The bottom third of North America. Pieces of Russia and a chunk of southern China. Even Hokkaido was gone.

"And the people...?"

Ken didn't say anything.

Koushiro sat down hard on the steps of the school. If it was true, billions of lives had been lost. The number was too big for him to even appreciate its weight. But he was not numbed by it. Among those billions were the lives of Hikari, Taichi, Daisuke, Iori, Sora, Mimi, and Jyou. He thought of Jyou, who he'd seen only this morning; smiling blindly without his glasses, a cup of tea in his hand, his hair, uncut since the start of the project, in an awful mess. He and Jyou had become so close in the past few years. The thought of having lost him hurt almost as much as the thought of losing Tentomon.

"I can't accept that."

Ken's distant gaze shifted."Izumi?"

"I don't know enough about this situation to make any conclusions. I will go there, and see for myself if it's gone or not. I will gather information, and figure this out."

"Koushiro, you can't just bring a world back out of nowhere!"

"Then why is there binary? Why a reflection? How much of the world is missing? The crust? Deeper? Down to the core? Was it an explosion? Did it just vanish? It doesn't even _sound_ right." Koushiro tried to put on a stern, determined face, even though his eyes were watering. "I won't to believe they're gone without proving it to myself. I'm going to Hokkaido. I'm going to look on the other side for myself, and I'm going to figure this out."

Wormmon nudged Ken's leg. "We should go with him, Ken. There's a chance this isn't what it seems."

Fists formed at Ken's sides. "No." He bowed his head repentantly. "I'm sorry for giving up all by myself. You're right, but I should go back to the digital world."

"That's dangerous. We don't know the digital world has been affected."

"You're right, but that's all the more reason I should go back. Someone should keep you updated on this."

"Alright, go, but do me a favor first. I need you to go to Kyushu and find Miyako before you leave. Tell her where I'm headed, tell her where you're going, and ask her to try contacting and organizing the others."

Ken nodded gravely. "You be careful Koushiro."

They wished each other well, and in a burst of light from their digivices, they parted ways on the wings of their digimon.


	4. Chapter 4

Hikari came to with a vicious headache. She rolled onto her back with a groan, and spat hair and grit out of her mouth. The scenery was not as she remembered it, and the stars pulsed into focus in time with the throbbing bump on her forehead.

_Please don't let me have a concussion…_

As soon as she thought it, she realized that she was fine, but the realization of her personal safety was not comforting. She should not have been able to see stars. She listened carefully for beasts or birds or some kind, and quickly decided to back herself up against a tree. She flipped her phone open, using the feeble light to help her take stock of her surroundings.

She had been on the southern slope of Kilimanjaro. There were definitely no pine trees there, or at least not the profusion of them surrounding her now. Without having to see the missing plains, or notice the difference in the steepness of the slope, she made the assumption that she was no longer in Africa. The air was different. It wasn't the chill of night on the savanna, where the heat wafted out of the earth well into the night. This was an autumnal night chill. It was well past seven, so the sky should have been shedding its last traces of orange for the blue of the day. She couldn't help looking around for something irregular, even though she knew the time should be the same in the digital world. This place, wherever it was, was entirely unfamiliar.

She reached into her pocket and gripped her D3, but it caused her a quiet worry instead of steadying her. Despite being safely nestled in her shorts, it felt cold and hollow and somehow toy-like. Her D-Terminal was a little livelier, but she had no signal. She set her jaw, stood up and made her way higher. The peak of the mountain couldn't be far if she could see the stars so clearly. She climbed with an energy that might have been fear, and she looked on in dazed silence when she reached the top.

The scenery was alien. Far away, she could see the lights of a city that wasn't supposed to be there. Strange high-pitched animal noises drifted to her on a wind that smelled nothing like the musky heat of the savanna.

Her D3 chirped noisily. It was glowing, and it seemed to be indicating to her where the port to the digital world had been downloaded. She slid down the mountain-side carefully, but hastily, ignoring all the scrapes and bumps she earned. She just wanted to be somewhere that made sense, and the digital world would have to do. With a flash from her digivice, she entered the digital world. It was properly morning there, and it gave her a good view of what she had stepped into.

The section they'd downloaded was near a Koromon village. The original digidestined had rescued it from Etemon long before Hikari's involvement as the eighth child. The Koromon were tiny, but brave and energetic. They'd been happy to meet her, and happy to help, and their entire village was burning before her eyes.

All around she could see the dark silhouettes of frantic Koromon hopping, leaping, and bouncing along so quickly that their attempts to quell the fire were almost comical. In the smoke, Hikari could just make out a digimon she had never seen before. There was a half circle of Koromon blowing bubbles at it and dodging swings of its tiny, sharp claws. It was red, and a fire burned at the tip of its aggressively swinging tail. She ran to get between it and the Koromon, and held her arms out defensively.

"Why are you doing this?!"

The Koromon bounced furiously behind her skinny legs. "It follows another human's orders! The human made it do this!"

"Another human?" The gates were all supposed to be closed for the last part of the project, she thought. The only ones that should have been open were the downloaded ports. "Where are you? Show yourself!"

Something growled from within the smoke.

"Hikari! Watch out!"

A blur of gray shot toward her. It was small, but it seemed like the world in front of her filled entirely with the teeth it was baring at her.

Tailmon dropped out of the smoke with a furious hiss. In a single Cat Kick, she sent he creature sprawling across the sand. Her tail whipped to and fro as she stood in front of her partner, claws at the ready.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine, now that you're here. What _is_ that thing?"

"It used to be a Koromon."

The lizard dashed forward, with fire streaming from its mouth, but it didn't come for them. It sank its burning fangs into the creature that used to be a Koromon, but the creature did not seem disturbed.

Even though it was hot, Hikari shivered. "What happened here?"

"There was a shockwave or something. A human boy showed up here with that lizard while the Koromon were still disoriented, and ambushed them, saying he was going to catch one of them. He threw some kind of device, and a Koromon got sucked in. It managed to get out on its own, but it didn't come out the same way it went in_._"

"The ball," a Koromon whispered at Hikari's feet. They cowered behind her legs like infants around their mother. "The red and white ball made him wrong, made him twisted. He was made a virus digimon."

Hikari didn't think so. Whatever had happened to it during its stay in the ball had deformed it into a horrible mockery of a Koromon's form. Its teeth stuck out like a Tokomon's, and its eyes were pearly white. The usual pale pink color of Koromon had been replaced with a soggy gray hue. But these things were not indicative of a virus type. Virus types had desires and motives. They could be heartlessly cruel, or they could be mischievous pranksters who didn't really have anything more than being a nuisance in mind. Sometimes they were entirely devoid of ill-will to anyone. Indisputably, virus digimon were just as alive and variable as data or vaccine types. Whatever had happened to the Koromon before her had taken that away. Whether it attacked or ignored the hot fangs of a creature tearing into it, the milky pink of its eyes betrayed nothing. Not even a hint of sentient intellect.

"What about the boy? Is he safe?"

Tailmon nodded. "I hid him. He got a solid bite to the face, but his life isn't in danger."

"And that lizard?"

"Has been going berserk since I took the kid away." There was a pause as the both considered the next step; an ugly task that had to be done. "Should I destroy the Koromon, Hikari?"

She wanted to say yes. This transformation could not have been painless, and it didn't sit well with her to leave it living in that state—if that could be called living. But she hesitated. "What if there's a way to change it back?"

"If you have something in mind, I'm willing to try."

Hikari thought as fast as she could, but a voice interrupted her.

"Charmander!"

Tailmon's ears flicked. "The kid!"

On the outskirts of the village, behind one of the few huts that had escaped the fire, a boy had dragged himself into view. His face was covered with blood that he'd obviously smeared around in futile attempts to wipe it away. The boy held up his arm, a red and white object gripped tightly in his hands.

"Return!"

A red beam shot from it, hitting the fire-tailed creature and assimilating it.

The used-to-be Koromon's face changed, and it whirled around to face the boy. Senseless malice contorted its already hideous features. It made its move with a snarl that rattled Hikari's heart. It was fast. Too fast for a Koromon. The boy had just enough time to throw his arms up in a reflexive defense pose.

Hikari was immobilized. She had never seen a digimon attack a human so violently. In the past, her life had been on the line for sure, but they had always been so successful at staying alive and relatively unhurt. There was blood on the air this time. So thick she could almost feel it condensing on her skin.

"Stop!" she shrieked. "Koromon, stop! You'll kill him!"

She ran forward, and Tailmon ran after her. The Koromon scarcely noticed them until Hikari's digivice began to shine. Tailmon's holy ring began to resonate with it, and in a sudden burst, the Koromon disappeared. They were left standing over the gravely wounded trainer, but they were watching the Koromon's data vanish into the sky.

"Why…?" Hikari whispered.

Tailmon glared down at the trainer. "Maybe there was something more going on that we thought. Something that made your digivice react and send him to Primary village. He was a true vaccine, but something happened... The Koromon think he was turned into a virus type, but even virus types don't typically attack with such senseless violence. There was something else…"

"That boy…Is he…?"

"Not yet, but if we don't do something soon, he will be."

Hikari glanced at the sky, and looked to the Koromon. "Help me."

They answered her with a thick growl. "He destroyed our village. We lost a friend."

He voice turned stern. "You will help him because he's just a boy. I don't feel he intended all this. There's got to be something we're not seeing here, and I am going to ask him when he wakes up."

They debated among themselves, and begrudgingly decided Hikari was right. There was an old Babamon who lived in the area. She was an excellent healer, and would know how best to help a human. Hikari assured them she would make sure he caused no harm.

"You should all head there," Tailmon urged. "He spoke like this was a normal course of action, and who knows if there are more like him out here. Go there, and if you see any other digimon, tell them to stay away from any human that doesn't have a digivice."

Hikari grimaced. After so long on the project, those were precisely the kind of fearful, mistrustful words she didn't want to hear. "Let's go, Tailmon..."

Tailmon nodded, and dropped her holy ring into Hikari's bag so she could armor digivolve. In the form of Nefertimon, she took the injured human on her back, as well as Hikari, and one Koromon who would lead the way. Winging high into the bright sky of the digital world, she saw something odd.

In the distance, she could just make out a mysterious red band of light arcing over the horizon.


	5. Chapter 5

Digidestined around the real world, or at least what remained of it, were awakening. Like Koushiro and Ken, they were shaking off the shock of the quake, only to find themselves bewildered and increasingly frightened. The binary barrier was visible everywhere, and the knowledge of what wasn't on the other side was spreading. They found themselves in a growing tide of confusion and the subjects of blame, and so they did the only thing they could. They looked to a man of Japanese origin, a prodigy only twenty years old, who was the head of the entire project and the brain behind much of the intricate programming. Surely, he would have answers. Surely, he would tell them this was some simple hiccup that he would soon remedy.

Koushiro felt the thoughts behind the messages flooding in from everywhere, and yet he ignored them. The global digidestined had invested their dreams in Project Download in as much as any of its designers had, but he couldn't force himself to give them a canned answer. 'Don't worry, we're working on it' might have been calming from one of the more charismatic members of the team, like Taichi or Daisuke. From him, it would only cause more panic. The few e-mails he did answer were from the digidestined at the remaining gateways. Takeru, Yamato, Miyako, Wallace, and Michael had reported in. They were as okay as they could be considering the circumstances, but safe.

He didn't have any illusions of himself as a leader-type, or an excellent speaker who could say the right things to them. What he had was Knowledge, and he was hard at work making use of it.

Standing on the other side of the binary barrier might've been interesting if it were the digital world. It was illuminated by a grimy, sourceless glow, and the only thing there was the crumbled edge of Honshu, dropping into eternity like the edge of the universe. It had been so easy to be brave on the other side, but he felt his courage giving out now. It reminded him too much of the emptiness where they had battled Apocalymon.

Panic seized Koushiro's heart and squeezed.

_If this is unfixable there are only six of us left, and two of them aren't original digidestined or even digidestined we're very close with. Wallace and Michael are so far away and Mimi was good friends with Michael but now Mimi is gone and Yamato is going to lose it because Sora is gone and oh god, Jyou and Iori and Daisuke and Taichi and Hikari what will I say to their parents, what will I say to the WORLD?_

The scream came like a gust funneling up from his chest, and Koushiro had to bite his fist to stop it. Tentomon turned around anyway. Beyond the barrier there were scarcely five yards of solid ground before it all disappeared down a sheer cliff. Tentomon hadn't allowed Koushiro near it, for fear that he would fall in, but since he could fly, he was the designated investigator. Seeing Koushiro like that, trembling and falling to pieces, tore him apart, but he didn't approach. The tears Koushiro were so focused on holding back were his grip on sanity. If he comforted him, he might just snap under the strain. Instead, Tentomon pointed to the binary.

That was their courage and their hope now. Because it had to be.

Koushiro looked up, and took a deep, shaky breath. "You're right...You're right. Thank you, Tentomon."

"Of course," Tentomon answered as he turned back to the void.

An e-mail came in, and Koushiro glanced at the name. It was Ken. Another came in from Miyako, but he read Ken's first.

"It's in the digital world too," Koushiro read slowly. "The binary wall is in the digital world too."

"Then we can assume a large portion of the digital world is missing, similar to the real world?"

"Yes. Ken says he's going further in toward the Tibetan anchor to see what he finds." He clicked over to the next e-mail. "Miyako says the gates on this side are still working fine and she was able to access the nearest gate to Shimoshima easily… Arrived at the lab, and has logged in… The computer is still reading sixteen gateways, every one of them stable."

The wheels of Koushiro's intellect creaked to life. If the gates were stable, it could only mean two things. They were either hovering in the space where the real world's coordinates had been, or they were still connected to the real world. Tears came to his eyes again. The fore was unlikely. That meant the others were alive somewhere. He quickly e-mailed Miyako his theory, and wiped his nose on his sleeves. The many ups and downs of the past few hours were starting to get to him.

A light caught his eye. It was his digivice, shining a strangely comforting light in his pocket.

"That's new..."

Tentomon suddenly piped up. "Koushiro! I think there's something on the other side of this!"

Koushiro's heart leapt again, and he got up, his digivice forgotten. He ran up to the edge where Tentomon had his claws poked over the edge, and they were disappearing into something. He pulled them back, and they were fine. Koushiro gulped, and put his arm out. His hand had disappeared, but he could still feel it moving on the other side.

_It's warm..._

He took a careful step forward. His feet met with something solid, even though he couldn't see it. He took a full leap to the other side, and Tentomon followed. The place they came to was not the real world or the digital world. The sun was shining; the weather was mild and warm and a slightly chilly breeze was blowing from the north. He was right at the bottom of a set of stairs carved into a hill. Two red bicycles with girlish ribbons tied to their baskets parked side by side at a rack to his right. To his left, a modest, country house nestled at the foot of a steep hill. Behind him, a dark haze hovered where he had come through with Tentomon. He couldn't resist the urge to climb the stairs. Two little girls raced by. His first reaction was to reach out and stop them from passing back into his world, but they got on their bikes and rode right through Koushiro's entry point without a care in the world, into the town beyond.

At the top of the stairs was some kind of town park. Just a little square of grass, without benches or ornamentation, but there was a gigantic statue depicting a creature Koushiro had never seen before. This couldn't really be the digital world, could it? There were normal houses and normal little girls and normal bikes with ribbons.

He got a little closer.

It certainly looked like a digimon. It was covered in armor and two completely different kinds of patterns seemed to be at work, in the same nonsensical way perfect and mega level digimon often displayed. He circled it trying to figure out what it was. If not a digimon, maybe some artist's eccentric carving? A stylized dragon of some sort? A local god?

Tentomon settled in front of it, and poked at the worn inscription plate attached to the statue's base. "'Creation of Dia, Giver of time. In laughter, there is tears. And, likewise the same time flows...The blessing of Dia.' Who's Dia?"

Koushiro bent down to get a better look. "This creature, I guess? 'Birth of Pal, creator of parallel dimensions... Alive, yet not alive. Rifts in space. To arrive in the same univer... The blessing of Pal.'"

"To arrive in the same uni**_verse_**, I assume. This isn't entirely legible..."

"Yeah," Koushiro answered absently. The inscription had made him anxious. Dia was one thing, but Pal? A creator of parallel dimensions who had rifts in space and mentions of the universe in its epitaph, which Koushiro had conveniently arrived a few steps away from after investigating a barrier marking off the half of his world had gone missing? He closed his computer and stepped back from the statue. For some reason the image of the colored lines, meant to depict the possible parallel worlds residing by their own came to mind. He imagined them being pulled and twisted by this creature, and his stomach gave a displeased turn. Nothing sounded better than leaving before it stepped off its pedestal to chat with him.

"Let's go. Let's go back right now."

He descended the stairs at an unnerved trot, with Tentomon buzzing after him. For one gut-turning moment, Koushiro thought he might just pass through the hole, the way the little girls had, but he found himself back at the dark edge of his own world with no trouble at all. After what he had just experienced, the endless dark was almost calming. After a moment taken to breathe and get himself under control, the weight of the discovery he had just made began to take effect.

He looked up at the binary curiously. The gates that weren't in the real world were probably in the one he had just come from. During the final act of Project Download, something had come between some of the real world coordinates and their digital mirrors, and that world was it. A thought struck him.

"This isn't real."

"What?"

"This little space. It's an illusion. It serves no purpose other than discouraging others from venturing over the edge, but there's obviously something on the other side."

"Koushiro, the arc formed before we knew things had gone this badly. If this is an illusion, someone put it here intentionally, and they knew something big was going wrong before we did."

"Not something. Whoever put it there knew exactly what was going wrong. But who could have known, and who would be strong enough to put this kind of shield around both this world and the digital world? Not even Qinlongmon has that kind of power. And if there's something there, why don't they want anyone to go into it, even at the risk of global panic?"

"Maybe it was Pal and Dia?"

_Pal_, Koushiro considered nauseously. _Why does it scare me so much?_

_Because it's probably got something to do with this, and you're not exactly tickled by the idea that you may end up fighting something like that,_ his more rational self answered.

Was fighting really it though? After all, he didn't know anything-not even if this creature truly existed. If it did, it was entirely possible it was trying to help in its own way.

The thought of a creature who could do that on a whim and then try to offhandedly introduce itself to him was not as comforting as Koushiro had hoped.

He opened his laptop to e-mail Miyako, only to find his connection had been reset. He tried his D-Terminal, much to the same effect. There was no way to communicate with the others if he ventured to that place which was neither of the dimensions he was familiar with. If something had happened to his missing friends, and they were there, they couldn't call for help. It was like their first trip to the digital world all over again. They could only wander aimlessly in the hopes of finding their way home, or wait to be found.

He said as much to his partner. "We have to help them somehow..."

"Koushiro, you can't leave. Even if it's an illusion put here to discourage people, you're the best suited to figuring out how to correct this. We'll have to use what resources we have wisely."

"Wrong."

Koushiro turned too late to see who it was. A fist struck his jaw and stars exploded in his eyes. His laptop slipped from his fingers and he heard it hit the ground with a clattering of what he only hoped wasn't fatal scattering of pieces. The dim sensation of his hairs standing on end told him Tentomon was attacking with his electricity, but something came up under Koushiro's chin with an ominous click, and all of the sudden it was so quiet that Koushiro could hear his blood in his ears. The sound of footsteps, quick and efficient and in step, surrounded him and he could just make out Tentomon being tied up even as he received similar treatment.

"Stay still, Izumi Koushiro. You're under arrest by order of the United Nations and the Japanese government. You will be charged and tried as an international criminal."


	6. Chapter 6

_The men who carried him away were not gentle, but any pain Koushiro might have been in was far, far away. The sensation was familiar... Was this what he had experienced after the quake? He did not feel entirely unconscious, but nor did he feel like he was awake. The persistent sensation of panic kept him stubbornly swimming back toward consciousness when he felt it waning, but he never quite made it there. It was dark where he was. He saw his laptop, shattered in the middle of a bunch of disgruntled looking men. He thought dimly that couldn't contact Miyako. When was the last time he felt so detached? Vademon's giggle echoed from somewhere. _

No_, Koushiro thought, _my curiosity is mine_. _I would never give that up again_. _

_He must have been floating, because suddenly his feet touched solid ground. Up was darkness, down was darkness, left was darkness, and right was darkness. It wasn't oppressive, just empty, like a dreamless sleep. _

Except I am dreaming_, thought Koushiro. _

_He could see himself. He had large hands now, so unlike when he was a boy. His growth spurt hadn't been as potent as he'd hoped. He was still a head shorter than Taichi. Even Iori was a few centimeters taller than him now. Koushiro's fingers were a bit gnarled at rest from so much typing. His hair, which had alternated between extremely short and crazily overgrown all during the project, was still in his eyes. He ran his fingers through it, futilely trying to keep the red strands out of his vision._

_And then Jyou was there._

_Koushiro felt his heart jump, but his face felt stiff, and no smile came. He remained a motionless observer, and began to expect that surely this was a dream. But Jyou's image didn't vanish. The longer he watched, Koushiro realized Jyou was hunched over and shivering. _

Jyou?

_Koushiro's breath steamed as the cold seeped toward him. His surroundings widened, and Koushiro could see snow falling in thick wet clumps that stuck to the side of his friend's face and quickly froze there. Jyou was walking through a field coated in snow and the visibility was so poor he could probably navigate with his glasses off and not lose an advantage. He was poorly dressed for such conditions. His idea of celebrating their achievement had been to wear one of those cheesy American polyester tourist shirts with at least five colors on it in what Mimi called 'blindingly unfashionable' patterns. Jyou paused in front of a cold gray ocean, and curled forward into the snow. Koushiro reached for Jyou in a panic, but the blizzard concealed him, and the vision disappeared._

_Another image appeared, and this one was of Sora. She was shivering inside a cave with Piyomon nearby. They were sopping wet, and looking at out at a sea full of whirlpools. Beside her, a different image appeared, this one of Iori and Armadimon half buried in the sand. In the darkness, the images popped up one after another. Taichi, climbing a smoking volcano shouting for Agumon; Mimi, still out cold beside a well, with Palmon nowhere in sight; Hikari in a tiny house with a cluster of Koromon; Daisuke standing at the top of a hill with V-mon, staring at...a space center?_

_One by one the images went out, until Koushiro was alone again._

Wait. Come back!

_I've shown you they're alright. Why are you still here?_

_Koushiro looked up, and in the darkness a gigantic eye opened before him. The proportions were enough to strain Koushiro's mind even though he was sure he was dreaming. It was like standing in front of a swirling red galaxy with a giant chasm for a center._

Who are you?

_The eye narrowed._

_If you have time for questions like that, wake up and get to work. I'm going to send you some help. Don't make me have to get up and fix this myself._

_A violet light streamed out of dark center of the eye, and Koushiro was bathed in it. He smiled despite himself, as he realized what it was. He reached out his hand, and touched the claws that had held him safely long ago._

AtlurKabuterimon…Where have you been?

Koushiro woke with a cough. His shirt was bunched up around his neck, enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to suffocate him, and he was just barely being held off his knees. He was hanging from a hook or handle of some kind, like a piece of meat, and his hands were still tied behind his back. A dim sensation of motion persisted, so he couldn't be in jail yet. His vision cleared and adjusted to the dim lighting. It was some kind of cabin. A plane, by the design and the excessively bright blue of the summer sky that poured in from what few open windows there were. It was small craft. Private, most likely. Most of the lights were all off. Tentomon was tied up thoroughly in a seat across the aisle, but there was nobody else in the cabin. Aside from the throbbing that permeated the side of his face where he'd been hit, he seemed fine. The dream swirled in his head.

" Atlurkabuterimon …"

Tentomon sighed dejectedly. "If only I could, Koushiro. They took your digivice. They're trying to fix your laptop, but it's in pieces. The brutes."

Koushiro bit his lip to wake himself, and forcibly organized the events in his still-groggy mind. Pal and Dia. Another dimension. Arrest by the U.N. The dream... He wiggled furiously until he felt it. It rested against his chest so familiarly that he could have cried. He looked around to reassure himself that no one was present, and whispered just loud enough for Tentomon to hear.

"My tag and crest… Tentomon, they're back!"

Tentomon nearly jumped out of the seat. "How?"

"Shh! I don't know. I saw someone in my dreams. I think it was a digimon. He showed me the others, and said they were alright. Then there was this light and I saw him… er, you. Atlurkabuterimon."

Tentomon started to get excited, but they both went quiet as a man in a black suit came into the cabin. He looked rough and immaculate at the same time; well kept hair, a slight mustache, an clock shadow, like the depiction of a modern yakuza. If he took off his suit and revealed a body coated in tattoos, it would not have surprised him in the least. and Koushiro was sure their encounter was going to be painful.

"Oh, that's right," the man growled. "You should be scared. Let's get one thing straight before we begin. Japan knows better than anyone what you're capable of. You try anything funny, and we'll kill your pet."

Koushiro glared, but maintained his silence.

"First, you're going to tell us about your hive in Kyushu. That super computer is there, running the program that supported this. How do we get into it?"

Koushiro laughed. "You'd never get into that. There's no override code or anything. Even if I tell you, the total content of all the data on is currently inaccessible."

"Then tell me. It can't hurt if I can't get in, right?"

Koushiro glanced at Tentomon, but Tentomon nodded. Under the circumstances, knowing how to get in really wouldn't matter in this situation.

"It needs the digivice of three members of Project Download. It has to be in a certain order and the digivices have to belong to certain members of the group. Seeing as how half the team disappeared with the world, there's no way to get in."

"What's the order?"

"Like I'd tell you."

The punch came faster than he expected, and landed across the same area of his jaw. The whole right side of his face was starting to sing with pain.

"Wrong answer."

"It has to be 2 digivices and one of two D3s. All the D3 holders were on the other side." He watched the man's face for any sign that someone had done the appropriate research and knew better. Nothing. They appeared ignorant of Miyako, and Ken was already in the digital world where they couldn't chase him. Only his family and the other chosen children knew Takeru was in Spain; hopefully that bought him some time. So he milked it. "There are no D3s anymore."

"So make one."

The absurdity caught Koushiro off guard. He would've laughed, but his jaw hurt too much. "_Make_ one? Are you nuts? We spent our time studying the digital world, not the digivices themselves. It's technology that doesn't work like ours at all. We can't _make_ them."

"So where do they come from?"

"…We don't know."

The punch came again. He could taste a blood rising in his mouth, but there was no other way to say it. "Damn it, I'm telling you the truth! We don't know! We've only got theories where they come from. They just show up when you have a partner digimon. Originally they were given to just a few of us for a very specific purpose, but things have changed. Maybe the digimon carry it, and maybe it's something the digital world itself bestows. We don't _know!_"

The man stared at Koushiro and decided he was telling the truth. "The D3s are like the digivices right? What makes them different?"

At last an easy question. "A digivice…I guess you could say it caught a virus once. It changed as a result. It became a D3. As a result, a few other D3s were made to combat it. When the virus was destroyed, they just never went back to being digivices. The essential functions are the same, but there's something that makes them special...stronger."

"Useless…" He turned to the digimon. "What about you, insect? You know anything about this super computer?"

"I haven't been in the real world since we started this project, except for a few very specific, short visits."

He sighed, and turned back to Koushiro. "You blew most of the world to shit. You're pretty bold to be so calm. What about that red thing in the sky? What is that? What'd you put it there for?"

"I didn't put that there, which is why I was at the scene in the first place. I was trying to figure out what happened, and decoding the binary seemed like the fastest way to find out. It's not like I made half the world and half my friends disappear on purpose…"

Koushiro went quiet, and the man leaned down.

"Kinda late to be crying isn't it? Look at me when I talk to you. We know this is your fault. We saw you disappear when you crossed the cliff. No one else can do that. What is that code, and where did you go?"

Koushiro's eyes widened. "You were watching me?"

Another punch. Koushiro's vision faded for a moment, but the man shook him until he came back.

"I ask the questions here! What is the code, and where did you go?"

"I don't know yet! I was figuring it out when you came. I swear this isn't what we were doing." Tears started to spill down his cheeks. "I did go somewhere, and it wasn't this world or the digital world. I don't know anything about the binary code or the other side. All I know is that there's a chance this can be fixed!"

"You can't bring them back."

Koushiro knew 'them' didn't mean the other members of the Project Download team. That man had lost people on the other side of that barrier, and he was going to blame it on Koushiro no matter what.

_You'll just have to stay angry. I have to worry about mine first. If I don't get my friends back, there's definitely no way I can bring yours back._

The man re-adjusted his coat and strolled back down toward the front of the plane. "We'll be keeping your digivice for when we get to Kyushu."

Koushiro raised his head. It felt heavy. "Mine isn't part of the password."

The man paused just long enough to shake his head in disgust and kept moving.

"Well," Koushiro mumbled. His swollen jaw was starting to go numb. Bad sign. "That went well."

Tentomon struggled against his bindings. "I don't like this. You were brave Koushiro, but I should have protected you."

"It's alright. I can deal with other humans." He glanced over the seat, and lowered his voice. "I just hope Miyako is alright. What if I got some kind of important message while all this has been happening?"

"We'll just have to wait… Your backup laptop is at the lab. I'm sure Miyako will figure out a way to help us when we arrive."

Thunder erupted at the center of the plane. The cabin rocked and groaned, and tilted down so quickly that Koushiro's stomach rose. Amid the sounds of the pilot's shouting and the shouts of whoever else was on the flight deck, he could hear an angry, persistent beeping, so frantic that it was almost a whistle. His tag warmed against his chest, and he knew that sound was his digivice. The plane stopped so suddenly that Koushiro rammed his head against the ceiling, nearly knocking himself out again. He could hear water spraying against the wings of the plane. He couldn't imagine they were just leaving Hokkaido, so they must have been closer to Kyushu, in one of the seas that separated it from Honshu or Shikoku. A wing of the plane gave a deafening metallic shriek and went up in flames, and men in camouflage uniforms came storming in. They pointed to Koushiro, and the next thing he knew, he'd been untied.

"Don't worry," their captain said in carefully rehearsed Japanese. "We're not arresting you. You are now under the protection of the US Government."

There was a melee in the cabin, but Koushiro felt as though he was watching it from a distance. The plane was creaking miserably as its left wing burned away, and the machines in the cockpit were still shrieking. There was noise coming from everywhere; radios, people shouting, the horrendous chopping of a helicopter hovering just above them. The only thing that didn't change was man who'd interrogated him earlier. He was bulldozing through, with his eyes trained solely on his target. Everything else was just an interruption. His teeth were bared in a vicious, not entirely human snarl, and Koushiro felt his stomach twist as he realized that man didn't care about fair trial in an international court or even an internationally backed execution.

But Koushiro's digivice was on the other side of the cabin. He couldn't leave it there, screaming to be retrieved while his tag went crazy under his shirt. He shook off the soldier trying to pull him away from the brawl and looked at the captain of the Americans who had come to rescue him.

"Are you really here to help me?" he shouted over the noise.

The man smiled. It was not sincere. "Naturally."

A menacing answer. "Whatever you need, but help me get my digivice from the front end, or I'm useless to you!"

His response was instant, and soldiers formed up like ants appearing from the tiniest cracks. Water started to spill into the cabin, and the sudden rush of cold around everyone's feet caused a momentary pause that became their chance. The soldiers ran in formation and systematically pushed their fights into the seating spaces. Koushiro ran through with Tentomon at his back. He passed his interrogator, who gave an enraged snarl and flailed his free hand in Koushiro's direction. Koushiro wavered, but only for a moment. The water was up to his shins. In the cockpit his saw the broken remains of his laptop toppled onto to the floor. The water was already submerging them, and his only solace was that it would be lost forever after the plane finished sinking. His digivice was easy to find. It was a red-hot glow in the corner of the room. He touched it without hesitation, and it quieted immediately. Behind his back, a different light started to shine.

"Koushiro...?"

Tentomon was glowing. Koushiro's crest was shining. The digivice was in his hand. He held it out.

"Go for it, Tentomon."

The familiar light emerged, just like Koushiro's dream. Even as he stared into it, those familiar claws closed around him, and he heard the cockpit torn open with a shriek of forcibly parted steel. Light filled the cockpit, and this time it was sunlight. He could see his partner clearly.

"Welcome back, Atlurkabuterimon."

"Izumi-san!"

He looked up. A boy he didn't recognize dropped from the back of an Airdramon, landing heavily in Atlurkabuterimon's claws. The Airdramon soared low to harass the feuding armies.

"Who are you?"

"A friend," the boy said gravely. "I'll tell you the details later. The whole world is looking for you. We have to get out of here."

"So this is what it's like to be an international criminal…"

The boy smiled grimly. "You're no criminal. In fact, you deserve some praise. Congratulations Izumi-san, you've invented a way to wipe whole countries off the map without warning. Whoever gets their hands on your secret is going to be the next great power in the world, and you are going to be the loser no matter what. And if you can't hand over such a secret, you're better off dead."

"But that's..." Silly. It was silly, was what Koushiro meant to say. But that was the point. He was going to be somebody's scapegoat, or somebody's path to power.

He sagged in AtlurKabuterimon's hands.

_Politics, _he groaned inwardly_. It's always politics._


	7. Chapter 7

The plane had crashed in the Yatsushiro Sea. It was close. Too close.

In an effort to not make it appear they were hiding their facility, the lab had been built on the tiny island of Shimoshima, on the slopes of one of the two mountains there. The everyday hiker wouldn't find it, but Shimoshima didn't even break eighty kilometers at its widest points. Anyone really looking for it would eventually find it. Koushiro thought of the interrogator. If he made it to shore, he could start walking and find them in a matter of days.

"Hey kid," he called over the wind. The boy's Airdramon had returned shortly after taking out the helicopter. It made a smaller target than Atlurkabuterimon, so they were all riding on its back. "How do you know where you're going?"

"Ichijouji told me."

"Ken did? Then, who are you?"

"I'm Hiroshi." The boy smiled. "My dream is to draw comic books."

Memories rushed up from the back of Koushiro's mind. He squinted, and sure enough, on the back of the boy's neck, below his fluffy head of hair, and above his collar, there were remnants of a tiny, faded bar code. It wasn't strange then, that Ken had been keeping in touch with this boy. Ken knew what it was to fall prey to a Dark spore.

"Are the other children alright as well?" Koushiro asked.

The boy nodded absently as Airdramon dipped its wings and spiraled down toward the slopes of Kadoyama Mountain. Mere yards away from the canopy, gunfire erupted, nearly putting holes in Airdramon's already tattered wings. They climbed back into the sky, but the shots still came after them. Hiroshi stopped Aidramon when they were high enough, and looked down into the trees.

"Are you hurt anywhere, Airdramon?"

The dragon digimon snorted proudly. "They wish."

"Good. Circle around and get ready for a dive. I want to see that Airdramon speed you're so proud of."

A cell phone was the first thing to emerge from Hiroshi's pocket. It was solidly built and rather plain for a kid who was probably Iori's age. He dialed deftly, and held the phone in a serious, businesslike manner as he watched the trees.

"It's me. …Yeah, they're watching the place. …Exactly what I was thinking. Meet you there."

A nervous knot formed in Koushiro's stomach. "What are we about t_oaaaAHHHH_—!"

Koushiro's scream fell behind like them like the tail of a comet as Airdramon suddenly plummeted. Hiroshi yelled for him to keep his head low or risk breaking his neck, and urged his partner to fly as fast as he thought they could handle. When the gunfire exploded from the canopy again, Airdramon's wings opened and without losing even a bit of his furious speed, turned into a mad spiral toward the ground. Koushiro clung desperately to Airdramon and his digivice, and Tentomon held on to Koushiro as centrifugal force threatened to throw them all off. The bullets weren't able to keep up with them, but if they lost their grip and tumbled into space, they'd become targets. Koushiro would have to make Tentomon digivolve, but he didn't want to know how Kabuterimon would fare against bullets.

_Come to think of it, I don't hear as many…_

He chanced a look down, and quickly regretted it. The world spun by so fast that he became queasy in a matter of a few seconds and had to close his eyes again. It seemed like even behind his eyes the world was still going down a giant drain, but one thing was for certain. Even in that spinning world, he hadn't noticed as many of the little pops of light, and slowly but surely, the noise was disappearing. By the time they landed, it was silent.

Hiroshi hopped off and flicked open his cell phone, but Koushiro found that most of his muscles had locked in place. Even though his jaw pulsed abominably from the pressure on his bruises, he couldn't unclench his teeth. All he could feel was tension and a dim tingling on his skin from wind exposure. He didn't release his grip until Airdramon de-digivolved from beneath him, and he fell to the ground only to land in front of a somewhat stately looking Biyomon.

"I thought you were male," was the first thing Koushiro could think to say.

"I am!" Biyomon exploded. "Not all Biyomon are female!"

Tentomon raised a comforting claw between the enraged Biyomon and his flustered partner. "Technically, digimon are neither male nor female."

The ring of pink feathers at Biyomon's neck puffed out threateningly, but his partner called him, and he turned away with a dismissive snort.

"You shouldn't get so riled up," Hiroshi chided. "Especially not to the people we owe our lives to."

Koushiro gave a crooked smile. "I don't think it's quite as serious as that."

"Of course it is. We dark spore kids owe Ichijouji and the others for saving us from BelialVamdemon, but without you original digidestined, the digital world might've been destroyed long before that." He looked at Biyomon. "I would never have met you."

Koushiro couldn't help a smile as Biyomon fluffed out his feathers and made a big fuss of looking disinterested. He had never seen a digimon be so stubborn and prideful, but Hiroshi's expression said he could see right through his partner. It relaxed Koushiro to know he was with a well bonded pair.

Just as he was ready to ask what they were waiting for, there was a crash in the woods. A fox-like digimon skidded from between the trees with a pair of girls on its back. At first it seemed like they would come to a come to stop right between Hiroshi and Koushiro, but the digimon's tail swerved wildly, and they continued to slide by, even as the digimon clawed at the ground in an attempt to stop. The girls jumped off, and landed safely on the ground, while the digimon continued to slide away.

"Sorry," the bigger girl said to the smaller. "You know how Reppamon gets sometimes."

"Ah," Tentomon said. "So that was one of Reppamon's famous fights with its tail…"

Both girls straightened up. The larger girl introduced herself as Keiko, another former dark spore child. She was working on her dream of running a pastry shop, despite a rather trendy appearance. Bright pink lip gloss, plastic hoop earrings, a white beret, carefully manicured nails, a poncho that hung saucily off one shoulder to reveal a spaghetti strap. She looked like the kind of girl who might consider digimon and such modest dreams as 'pastry shop owner' boring and childish, but there she was. Her partner, who became Kudamon when it got back in control of its tail, hung itself right across her shoulders and it was obvious the two were close.

The smaller girl didn't need introduction. Koushiro still recognized her. Her hair was a much more fashionable brand of short, and she'd taken on the typical gangly disproportions of a teenager, but she was still herself. A girl made mysterious by just how plain she was, similar to Hikari. If anything, her eyes were much gentler than he remembered now that she was so far removed from the influence of the dark spore. A red D3 hung on her belt, and a Punimon was cradled in her arms. He wondered if her dream of being a teacher was still the same as it had been seven years ago.

"Kawada? Kawada Noriko?"

The smile she gave was small and sad. "Long time no see, Izumi-san."

The birds, who had mostly resumed their chatter with the cease of gunfire, were startled out of the trees by a sudden rumble of machinery. The former dark spore children turned, but were unalarmed by the shifting of a sheet of stone mostly covered in ivy. It opened up like a garage door, and Miyako ran out at Koushiro. She was a disheveled, as though she had arrived in a hurry, and been in a hurry ever since. The hairband she wore in lieu of her old bandana was crooked, and her usually very straight and obedient hair was a frizzy mess. She was flushed, and her eyes darted restlessly from the sky to the woods to Koushiro's beaten face. For several moments she didn't actually say anything while her face ran through several expressions, from rage to relief and back again. Finally, she calmed down enough to talk.

"Come on. It's not safe out here."

Hiroshi, Keiko, and Noriko were already disappearing inside, and Koushiro watched them go, wondering how they could be so sure of where they were going. How much had Ken told them?

Miyako patted his shoulder as the door began to close, guiding him down the hall. "Don't worry about them. They know what they're doing. They were trained specifically for protecting this place."

The tips of her fingers were bright red against the blue of his shirt. She'd been chewing at them. "I don't remember this subject coming up when any of the major decisions were made."

"When we thought of this, you were stressing like mad over the problems with the project. We all were. We'd have been in no position to handle any emergencies, so Ichijouji thought we should ask some other digidestined for help. Of course, by the time we worked out the problem and were ready to dismiss them, Iori had gotten to them. He and Taichi trained them, and I'm the only other one who even knows they're so involved."

"Is there a reason why all three of them are from seven years ago? How did you even find me?"

"I suspect it's because they're close to home, but you'd have to ask Ken. And…" She looked tiredly at her cell phone.

Tentomon coughed politely. "Excuse me, but don't we have more important things to discuss?"

Miyako's eyes darkened, and she slowed her pace to a measured walk. "I was getting to that. Why didn't you answer your e-mails, Koushiro?" He gestured to his still-swollen face. "Right…right… But before that, when you were at the binary wall. You must have gotten e-mails from other digidestined?"

"I didn't know what to say to them that wouldn't cause panic. I thought if I could figure out the mystery of the binary wall, I'd have something they could…grab onto, you know? Something to make this easier to deal with. And I did just that, right before I got captured. I'm going to send out a big e-mail—"

"Forget that for now!" She stopped to face him in the dim, concrete hallway. "Do you know how many hours it took for armies to start making a grab for you?"

Koushiro checked his watch, and his jaw creaked open despite the swelling. It was still early, considering he'd gone to Hokkaido from Tokyo only to be flown all the way back down to the Yatsushiro Sea. "Hours…?"

"Two. Two hours after that quake, they were looking for you. They're looking for all of us." She grabbed his shoulders. "Some of those e-mails are talking about searches…questioning…temporary detainment. I've spent the time between your kidnapping and now trying to get the word out to everyone to hide. The news hasn't started talking about what's behind the wall yet, but they are calling for you to be turned in by anyone who sees you. The only reason Hiroshi was able to find you is because I sent him out to go find you at the binary wall when you stopped responding. Lucky or no, you were already most of the way here." She licked her lips nervously. "I think people are going to call the bluff on whatever explanation has been given for this very soon. Calls aren't going through. People on the other side aren't responding. This is going to escalate badly the longer we take."

"You don't think…?"

She nodded grimly. "If we don't fix this soon, they're going to make a grab for _every_ chosen child. I've already told the remaining members of the project to contact their immediate family and tell them to find a place where they can hole up."

For a moment, he couldn't say anything. "I…guess it helps to be cautious. I don't think it'll come to that though… What about—"

"—Your parents?" she finished knowingly. "I contacted them first, and told them to get on the move as quickly as they could, even if it was by foot. I've made these same courtesy calls to the parents of everyone who vanished. I thought you should know the situation in this world before I told you about the digital world…" She let go of his shoulders. "I got an e-mail from Ken, and the digital world is in the same condition. Half of it is just…gone."

"Yeah, and something else is taking up that space."

He ran ahead, and Miyako followed him through the halls, around the children and their digimon, and to the lab. He weaved deftly through the sea of papers and odds and ends, and came to the main room, where the computer stood more like a pillar than a machine, at the center of a long table in the center of the room. He sat at the nearest chair and barked his named in a rush of breath. It recognized his voice, and gave him the options of Love, Sincerity, Knowledge, and Kindness. He plugged his digivice in, and tapped at the nearest terminal built into the table itself. It lit up, as did the other seven terminals and the back-lights beneath the translucent surface, revealing a litter of everything from theory papers on the digital world's physical location in the universe to law and ethics textbooks. He swept everything from the center, ignoring things that fell to the floor, and typed away at the on-screen keyboard, mumbling to himself.

"Knowledge database... Access digivice..."

A node in the shape of the crest of knowledge blinked obligingly. He moved to his usual seat at the head of the table, and tapped busily at the personal keyboard he kept there. He found, in his years on the project, that he could not get used to the absence of clicking keys.

Miyako stood over him. "What are you trying to do?"

"I've been to the binary wall, as you know. There _is_ something beyond it. I went there, and it seems to be an entirely different world. What I found…was that my connection reset and my D-Terminal didn't even know where it was. I couldn't communicate with you until I came back. That may be why not everyone has contacted us, but they are definitely over there. When I was captured, I had a weird dream that the others were alive, and I think a…" _Pal._ "...digimon was showing me what had happened to them. Some of them were separated from their partners, but they were all safe, just in really weird locations..." He thought of Jyou being in the snow even though he was supposed to be at the Kuril Isles. "If my theory is right, the other world is hidden by the binary code...and our world and this digital world without that binary wall looks like this..."

He hit ENTER, and three diagrams appeared on the big screen on the far wall of the room. The real world was coded red, the digital world blue, and the unknown world he coded yellow. When they overlapped, the real and digital worlds were matched except for the lost gateways, which still existed in the other world. Together, the three made one complete globe.

Miyako gripped her shirt, right over her heart. It was a habit she'd developed for similar situations during the project, when possibilities were presented that gave her a tentative source of hope.

"Do you…really believe this might be the case?"

"It's all we have to go on. If this isn't it, those stabilized ports are just floating in space, and that can't be right. They have to attach to _something_." He instinctively reached to the left, where his laptop would've been if it weren't undoubtedly at the bottom of the ocean by now.

Miyako smiled sympathetically. "I'll get the spare."

He called after her. "When's the last time you heard from Ken?"

"He sent me the e-mail about the digital world about an hour ago." She reappeared at his side a laptop larger and older than his usual. "He was heading for the Tibetan gateway."

"Get in touch with him. He's going to scout the other world for us."

Miyako frowned. "Is it safe for him to go there alone...?"

_Oh,_ Koushiro thought apologetically. _Right..."_There were little kids running around when I was there. Everything seemed very...quaint. Anyway, it's better for him to be there than here. Digidestined with direct involvement in anything I do from now until we fix this could become targets at any time."

He could see her imagining Ken get kidnapped and interrogated in the same rough fashion that Koushiro had. Without another word, she sat down at her station to get to work, leaving Koushiro to rub at his neck. She hadn't caught the hint at all. He was grateful for her help, and even more so for her company, but he was her senior, and he was responsible for making sure she didn't get hurt. Especially not for his sake.

A hand tugged at Koushiro's clothes and distracted him. It was Noriko.

"If you're done, I need your help. I think…" Her cheeks, still round and childish despite her age, reddened as tears dropped from her eyes.

Koushiro remembered her sad smile, and noticed that the baby digimon in her arms had been utterly silent the whole time. If she was trained so well, why had she not played a part like the other two children, he wondered.

"I think Punimon is dying."


	8. Chapter 8

Mimi awakened from a strange dream, into an even stranger situation. She had dressed herself just so that she would be comfortable in either of the two climates she had volunteered to oversee gateways in, but her clothes were plastered to her body. Her hat been placed over her face, and as soon as she removed it, she was greeted by the heat of a summer sun in early descent. She stood up, and took stock of her surroundings as she shed a few layers of her clothes. She was inside a tiny quarry with a path going up to the top of the cliff, and the only thing down there with her was an old-fashioned well.

She whittled her clothes down to a tank top, a single thin long sleeve shirt, her cowboy hat, and a suede skirt that she sadly could not remove despite the uncomfortable amount of sweating it was causing. She resigned huffily, stuffing her shed clothing into her bag, and carefully wrapped her leather jacket around her waist. If she was going to be hot during the day that was one thing, but she would be even more irritated if, when night came around, she had to be cold as well.

She paused in the process of putting her hat on her head. It was entirely possible that it had just slid down on its own whenever she had blacked out, but maybe...

"Palmon!" she called. "Palmon, are you here?!"

_Slooow….?_

She jumped away from the well, surprised by the vacant eyes of a small pink animal staring from around the stones.

"Are you…a digimon?"

It didn't answer her. In fact, it didn't even seem to realize she was there. They stared at one another for almost a full minute before it turned away with a slightly more urgent moan and waddled off. If it was startled, it didn't move like it.

"What on earth…?"

Vines shot up out of the well, and Palmon landed on the edge, with a bunch of large, hollowed out acorns in her arms.

"Mimi! You're awake!"

"There you are! I was so worried and I saw this weird pink digimon…"

Palmon handed her an acorn before she could say anything else. It was filled with water.

"You've been out for a while, and you got really sweaty. Drink up." When Mimi took it, Palmon sat on the edge of the well and continued. "The pink thing you saw wasn't a digimon. I thought it was some kind of animal from the real world."

Mimi let out a loud, refreshed sigh, and took another water-bearing acorn. "I've never seen an animal that looks like that, and there was no place like this near us before the project was completed."

"This definitely isn't the way we were using to go back and forth between India and Tibet, and it's not the midway point where we were watching both of them from."

"So we're in some new world again? I had a party all planned and everything..." She scowled. "Ah, this sucks! Which way am I even supposed to go?"

Palmon smiled proudly. She knew Mimi would ask, and had taken the time to look around. "There's a cave east of here, and a town to the west. If you walk south through the trees you come to the ocean."

Mimi's half forgotten dream came back to her. "…Is the name of the town Cherrygrove?"

Palmon cocked her head. "Cherrygrove?"

Mimi drained another acorn, and fanned herself with her hat, coincidentally not much different from the one she'd been wearing when she'd had her first unexpected journey to another world. She tried to remember her dream.

"Does a digimon that looks exactly like a woman exist?"

"Like Angewomon and Lilymon?"

"More like Arukenimon, I think... She looked like a regular woman, but she said she was a digimon and told me to head for a place called Cherrygrove, and then there was this bright green light…"

"I've never heard of a digimon like that, but new digimon are born with new data. It's possible she exists. We should try to find this Cherrygrove place!"

Mimi couldn't help laughing as Palmon got fired up, but she felt better. The last seven years had been so peaceful that she had gotten used to not being in strange situations. If Palmon weren't there, she might've just sat there and cried for help. Instead, she felt herself getting fired up too. She put her hat back on, took off the long sleeve shirt, and took a few deep breaths to ready herself.

"Good thing I'm wearing the shoes for this this time."

Palmon wasn't listening. She was standing on the well with her mouth hanging open.

"What's the matter?"

"It's back…!"

Mimi tilted her head in worry, but as soon as she looked for something amiss, she felt a familiar bounce against her chest. Her tag and crest were back around her neck as though they'd never gone missing. Palmon jumped off the well and into Mimi's arms.

"This is great! Now we really can do this! I can protect you against anything if there are no digimon here, and I can even fly us away if there's trouble!"

Mimi grinned brightly, and set Palmon down to lead her to the town she mentioned. There were more of those pink creatures waddling around, but there were also human townspeople who treated the creatures like communal pets while going about their business. Old women swept in front of pretty little homes, and there was a smell of chimney smoke on the air. Flowers were littered around as far as Mimi could see, and it seemed like not a thing in the world was amiss. She might have been in some sleepy little village in Europe for all she knew. Compared to New York and Tokyo, where Mimi was used to being, it was all very quaint and quiet and…boring.

A boy ran out and tried to flip Mimi's skirt, but the material barely rose above her knees. He seemed disgusted.

"Cheater!" he crowed.

"You're the one who just—!" Mimi stopped herself. _You're lost. You need directions. Be nice._ She took a deep breath, and started over. "Could you tell me where this is?"

"Didn't you see the sign on the way? This is Azalea Town!"

"Azalea town... Can you tell me how to get to Cherrygrove?"

The boy seemed surprised. "Are you not from Johto?" He shook his head before she could answer. "No, no, of course you're not. You must be a trainer from one of the other regions if you've got a Pokémon like that."

"Poké…?" She realized he meant Palmon. "Ah, yeah, she's my Pokémon alright."

"Well, which region are you from? Hoenn? Sinnoh? You couldn't be from Kanto. There's no grass type Pokemon like this thing there. What's its name?"

Mimi's head started to hurt. This kid was treating her like she was some girl close to his age even though she was a few months shy of twenty-one. Flattering, but vexing at the same time. He was also loading her with information, which was something to be thankful for, she guessed, but he was causing an explosion of questions in her head at the same time. Kanto definitely sounded like the closest thing to home, but he had just said there was no way she was from there, and she had no idea where a place like Johto would be or what type of digi…'pokémon' would live in any of these regions; nor why she was now listening to Japanese speech when she had definitely been in India before she woke up here.

"Kid," she finally said. "I need to know three things from you: Where is Cherrygrove, what's the quickest way there, and do you know what this is?" She held up two coins. One was a coin from America, the other was a 10 yen coin.

He stuck out his tongue. "Dunno. Hope the zubats at Union cave get ya!"

He ran away, and walked straight into the path of an old woman who had seen his antics. He was dragged away by the ear, while Mimi stood there watching, her mind entirely blank save for idea that she suddenly had no money for food or water or a stay at a cheap hotel where she could at least have a shower.

After a long silence, Palmon finally asked. "Mimi, what's a Pokémon?"

* * *

The smell of smoke prevailed, even though there was little heat. Stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean, there was nothing to burn but driftwood and seaweed. Moisture hung on the air, and dripped from the walls, all of it salty. Sora's mouth was dry, but she didn't drink from the two bottles of water that were safe inside her pack. She didn't dare. Not when Piyomon might need it more.

Their arrival had been sudden. At first they'd been in Australia, watching the gateway where the Yokomon village would be downloaded. Then a red band of binary had crossed the sky, and all of the sudden the solid ground had given way, and they were in the ocean, in the middle of a school of things that looked like giant goldfish. They made their way to the surface, but on the way, they met with something that chilled Sora's blood. In the midst of trying to escape them, too much had happened, and Sora could not sequence what had happened. All she could remember was a wide, snarling mouth, and flashes of teeth and thick blue scales. She remembered the light of Piyomon's digivolution, as she tried to get them to the surface before they drowned. She remembered bubbles suddenly clouding her vision, and then the sensation of being sucked back down. Whirlpools forming all around them. Birdramon had jerked, Sora saw the water turn red, and the blood stung her eyes. The next thing she knew, they were on shore, and the crest of love, safe inside its tag, was clutched tightly in Piyomon's claws.

She looked over at her partner, and her heart constricted. As Birdramon, Piyomon's right wing had been bitten. The blood wouldn't stop, so Sora had used her shirt as a bandage, and built the fire. Piyomon had rested beside it all day, waking only when Sora changed the bandages and gave her food and water. Sora thought about fishing so Piyomon could have something better than energy bars, but every time she went to the water's edge, she heard a menacing rumble from the ocean, and one or two whirlpools would appear, apparently courtesy of whatever had attacked them.

Still, Sora wasn't hopeless. There was a sign to tell her they were on the Seafoam Islands, and though she had no idea what that might mean for their location, it meant people must come here at least occasionally. Sora's main worry was that a guy would be the one to find her sitting cold and alone in a dark cave with just a bra and her skirt on, wearied by a fire she kept stubbornly trying to maintain even though all she received in return was meager heat and stinging eyes.

For now, there was nothing she could do about that.

She opened her bag, and devoured an energy bar. With the edge off her hunger, she took another glance at her wounded partner, and went around to the shore opposite of where they'd been attacked. All sorts of things were washed up there, and she knew with sun disappearing, her options were limited. Food wasn't an immediate worry, but heat was. Cold air drifted out of the cave even during the day, and night would ensure that the smoldering excuse for fire was not enough to ward off the chill.

As she searched, she found herself wondering, not for the first time in that long day, where exactly the Seafoam Islands were. The water had ruined her cell phone, but she doubted she was in the real world anyway. She was no zoologist, but she was fairly sure there were no such wild animals as that could do so much damage to Birdramon. What had bitten her was more like a sea dragon…and those didn't exist in the real world. If they were in the digital world, her digivice should have let her know at some point, but it was eerily silent.

As she made her way back to the cave, she heard something cry out above her. A bird passed overhead; covered in blue feathers, roughly Birdramon's size with a trail of tail feathers that caught the rays of the sun in an icy prism and reflected them back into the sky. Before her eyes, it flew to one of the other islands, and made its descent.

Her digivice didn't break its silence, and she ran back to her partner, suddenly very certain that they were in a world they'd never encountered before.

* * *

Although he saw it from much further away, Taichi did not miss seeing the blue bird sail down from the sky and descend. From where he sat, he couldn't make out the Seafoam Islands, so it seemed to dive right into the horizon and vanish. He had come to Sora's conclusion hours ago, while searching for Agumon. The lushness of Madagascar had disappeared, replaced by volcanic crags, and he kept finding strange creatures in the rocks. From what he could tell, an eruption had occurred not too long ago. There were bits of moss growing here and there, and every once in a while, he could make out the warped shape of a building that had escaped the lava flow only to be buried in hot ash.

Night fall was coming, and Taichi was slowing down, but he refused to give up searching until he found his partner. He had to be around somewhere, even if this wasn't the right world. The only thing that kept him searching was the tag bouncing against his chest. His crest was there, after having been away for so long. It wasn't a coincidence that it should suddenly appear around his neck in this strange world. He didn't believe in those kinds of coincidences anymore.

There was a grumble, and he tripped for the hundredth time that day. His fall took him down a few ledges, but he landed relatively safe. As he glared back up, he saw the shining, dark eyes of some kind of rock creature. They were all over the place, and they hated to be stepped on, but they blended in so perfectly that Taichi couldn't see them in the dying light. He growled a low string of profanity, closed his eyes, and let his head loll back. Exhaustion tingled in his calves, and his stomach gave a long, hollow growl. He had plenty of water in his backpack, since Madagascar was a dangerous place to not have enough, but food was another issue entirely. In his all day search for Agumon, he'd eaten it all to keep his strength up. Now he was drained, and he couldn't go around chugging water to keep his stomach from whining.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a soft glow near the beach. It had to be half a mile away, but under a darkening sky, in a place with only rocks, rock monsters, and moss, that convenience store glow was impossible to miss. He rolled over and got up with a suddenly renewed energy as he realized the high chance of Agumon being there. And if not, at least there might be food. His gut rumbled again, but he tightened his belt and kept moving. Caution was all but thrown to the wind, even though he knew he would be seriously injured if he fell while he was rushing recklessly toward that light. Luckily, he came across a negotiable slope that was covered in shale and soil. A good portion of his journey turned into a slide that left his hands and knees stinging, but he came to a hard stop on the roof of the one lonely building where all the light was coming from.

A woman rushed out with a flashlight in her hand. Her hair was pink beneath the nurse's cap she wore, and Taichi was so surprised to see a normal human woman in the easily identifiable uniform of a human occupation that he couldn't do anything but gawk.

"Who's there?!"

"Just your friendly neighborhood lost boy," he answered jokingly, waving his scraped and scratched hands in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture.

The flashlight turned toward the sound of his voice. Taichi could barely make out her suspicious glare over the near-blinding light.

"You're not a boy at all! And you're bloody!"

"I'm twenty-one and working on an inter...national relations job, if that matters any to you. I really am lost, but those rock things kept tripping me, so I'm kind of banged up..."

This seemed to calm her down. "You must mean the geodude? They're very common around here. Hold on and I'll get you a ladder."

"Hey, wait! Have you seen anything else out of the ordinary today? Like…a three foot dinosaur, maybe?" Not the most direct question he'd ever asked, but damn it, he had nothing to lose.

He was expecting confusion, maybe fear, possibly that look people gave when they thought you were absolutely bat shit insane but intended to humor you for their own safety. He was surprised when none of these appeared. Instead, she thought about it, and suddenly her face brightened with a surprisingly wide smile of recognition.

"Oh, you must be Taichi! Agu-chan is inside. He's been worried sick about you all day. Oh, he'll be so happy!"

She dashed inside, to get the ladder, and probably to tell Agumon the news. Taichi slumped over the roof, puzzled and amused.

"Agu-chan, huh?"

* * *

In the Kanto region, night fell on Sora and Taichi. In Johto, Mimi had already taken cover in the woods and was watching the first stars dot the sky and worrying about how they'd make it through Union Cave, and what they'd do without money on the other side of it. In the Hoenn region, it was still early evening, and Iori was so far west that the day still held the high yellow-orange of late afternoon. He and Armadimon had somehow washed up on a small port island named Dewford, in the middle of the sea. Iori could spot land in the distance, but he didn't dare move. He spent his day listening to gossip at some kind of gathering hall for the town's teenagers, where all they did was talk about what was popular.

Normally, Iori would have stayed far, far away from that type of place, but under the circumstances he had learned quite a lot. In the past seven years, he had grown into a rather handsome boy, and something about his staid personality was popular with girls his age. The hall, of course, had been full of girls, and many of them had offered to answer any questions he might have. When necessity grew over his hesitation, he had asked. Asked, and asked, and asked, and the girls had always obliged him with answers. They seemed to find his total absence of 'trendiness' endearing.

Still, he was grateful, because now he knew that the gigantic crabs on the beach were krabby, and the bizarre, vacant stares of the fish in the ocean were magikarp, and the funny looking seagulls sailing over the water were wingulls, and they were all pokémon of various types. He learned that the mysterious red and white balls he saw were pokéballs, and that you caught pokémon in them, and that typically people who had a lot of pokémon or who battled with the few they had were trainers. Trainers were usually taking on gym leaders, and there was a gym on the island. Iori had gone there to learn more, and saw pokémon of the fighting type, most of whom were drastically different from the only slightly abnormal creatures he saw on the beach. Fighting pokémon were weak to bird types, and psychic types, but strong against normal, ice, rock, dark, and steel types.

Not that any of it made any particular sense to Iori. He simply got the information, and stashed it away. He figured he would find some context for it soon. For now, he and Armadimon sat on the north end of the island, where not many people were around. Armadimon was buried in sand, right in front of Iori, so to the one fisherman sharing the space with them, it looked like Iori was just absently piling sand while he sorted out his worries. Really, he was just deciding whether or not to take a ride to the mainland with Submarimon when nightfall came. That made it all the more a surprise when the fisherman came up to him and tossed a faintly flopping magikarp on his lump of sand.

"Get defeated at the gym today?" he asked, and continued before Iori could say otherwise. "Keep your chin up, and keep training. Brawly takes that gym seriously, so you'll never beat him if ya sit here mopin' about the loss. Dinner's on me, son. Share it with your pokémon."

The man walked away, and Iori was too confused to do anything but faintly yell 'thank you'. He had learned long ago that sometimes it was best to let your elders do as they would, and be grateful if it ended in good fortune.

Iori looked around. They were really alone now, so he brushed the sand away from Armadimon's shell and let him get up.

"Is that fish I smell?"Armadimon asked. "Can we eat it?"

"Well, he did say dinner was on him, and we're sure it's fresh…" He searched his bag for the small, all-purpose knife he had packed. "It's pretty big, and I don't want to risk someone seeing us building a fire, so I'll gut it and we'll make sashimi, ok?"

Armadimon practically danced at the thought.

* * *

On the opposite side of Hoenn, in the northeast where evening was in full swing, Daisuke had done a similar gathering of information, but most of it was on the space center they'd found at the highest point of the Mossdeep.

Of course, that been hours ago. Daisuke, being himself, had not exercised the proper caution when looking around Mossdeep City. In the process of gathering information, he had held open conversation with V-mon, and it wasn't until he kept getting question after question after question that he realized no one on the island knew what a digimon was. In the end, two little kids, supposedly the gym leaders, had come forward and demanded information. At that point, he had pulled a quick digivolution and now he and Exveemon were soaring over the ocean, looking for a place to land for the night.

"Daisuke…" Exveemon said over the wind. "Those people…used psychic types, right?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Won't they know where we're going? What if they come after us?"

"It's cool. I figure if they're gym leaders, they won't chase us. They have to stay at the gym, right?"

Exveemon didn't seem convinced, even as they veered toward a volcanic island. It seemed inactive, and there was a city in its center, but they didn't head into it. Instead they landed high on the cliffs, where a fine dust coated the rocks and what tentative grasses there were.

"We'll crash here for the night," said Daisuke, as Exveemon shrank to V-mon. "What's up? You've been kinda down since we left Mossdeep."

V-mon rubbed his arm nervously. "I guess after all these years of humans being used to me… It's hitting me a little hard being a 'weird creature' again. And I'm worried about what happened. We were in Brazil! We ended up in the middle of the ocean on an island with a space center on it. Your D-Terminal hasn't been able to contact anybody, and nobody's contacted us. What if this happened to the others?"

Daisuke blinked, surprised that his partner was worrying so much. "I suppose Centalmon could have ended up here… You think someone might catch him in a pokéball?"

V-mon managed a tentative smile. "I think Centalmon could handle himself."

Daisuke grinned. "Right! Most of these pokémon look pretty weak to me." He flopped down onto the grass beside V-mon. Even the constellations in the sky were different. "Tomorrow…I won't leave you here alone. Come with me. Just don't talk. We'll make like you're a pokémon from one of those other regions. We'll get used to this town; maybe find some work to do until we get word from somebody on what's happening."

V-mon gave another nod, this one a little more energetic. Daisuke held out his fist, and V-mon pounded it enthusiastically. They spent their first night in Hoenn in a peaceful sleep on the slopes of Sootopolis City.

* * *

Back in Kanto, midnight had already come, but in the digital world, the night was young, and Hikari was in a dream as thin as paper. The sight of the Koromon's village burning was replaying behind her eyes. She kept seeing the trainer, his face disappearing behind rows and rows of teeth, and the monster that was once a Koromon suddenly disintegrating in the light of her digivice and Tailmon's holy ring. The images slipped away into darkness, and in it there seemed to be something approaching her.

She woke from her sleep with a jerk, as she had a few times already, with her ponytail plastered to the back of her neck. She saw Tailmon's eyes catching the reflection of moonlight, huge silver discs looking at her in sympathy. Perhaps because of the years with Vamdemon, Tailmon had built a defense to these things. She scowled at her scars, but always accepted their existence. Hikari could see the same grim resignation to the facts on Tailmon's face now, but it wasn't the part that bothered her. What hurt so much was the love and regret in her partner's eyes. Tailmon knew she had to fight in the name of the things and people she wanted to protect, and that gave her the strength to resign and keep moving, but she was wishing with all her might that Hikari wouldn't scowl at this memory the way she scowled at her scars.

Hikari looked at the trainer, lying in a bed made of hay, covered in bandages, and resisted felt an ugly urge to hurt him rise in her. It passed quickly, but nonetheless shocked and confused her. He was just a boy. Covered in bandages and in a great deal of pain. She reached out to Tailmon, and cried quietly into her fur, trying desperately to not lose herself.

Tailmon clenched her teeth. She could've strangled the boy in his sleep in that moment. Hikari had been so _happy_ for the past seven years. There were teary moments typical to being a teenager, bur nothing like this. This would not be something she resigned to, like the memory of those endless days of pain as Vamdemon beat the defiance out of her. There would never be any room in her heart to accept Hikari weeping because some kid had gotten a child digimon killed, and nearly himself.

The first seed of mistrust and hate that would later cause immense grief to herself and her partner took root in the dark of the first night.


	9. Chapter 9

_And just what do you think you're doing?_

Sleeping?

_I don't pay you to sleep._

Pay? I'm not getting paid for Project Download.

_Not in money, maybe. You got that crest of yours back though, didn't you? I told you, don't make me get up for this. Go greet your help._

But wasn't our help…the crests themselves?

A vast gust rushed over Koushiro. Was that supposed to be a sigh? _Look_,_ I'll always tell you what you need to know, so don't ask me a bunch of questions. I don't have time for that. Now get off your lazy Japanese ass and do what I told you to._

Koushiro jerked awake, getting ready to yell something in his defense. By the confused look on Noriko's face, he'd been talking in his sleep. She turned her eyes away politely.

"There's some drool…"

He wiped it away quickly. The ice pack they'd wrapped against his head had diminished the swelling, but not enough for him to keep his mouth closed without conscious effort. Even his laptop had drool all over it, and he was forced to wipe it off with his shirt. Noriko, he noticed, was looking everywhere but at him, and he felt heat rush to his cheeks.

_She saw it didn't she? Ugh, disgusting…_

Miyako had been the one to keep in touch with Ken through the night, while Koushiro took on the problem of Punimon. The little digimon was at rest on one of the cots in a quieter, less business oriented section of the main floor. Noriko kept an eye on him all night while Koushiro used his spare laptop to analyze the data from her D3.

Just like Koushiro had been able to hack into Tentomon all those years ago to make him digivolve, Noriko's D3 had the same information he needed. He had fallen asleep shortly after stumbling onto some very important information. There was a major irregularity in a certain few lines of Punimon's data. All partner digimon had a certain number of lines added in the digital script that made them that was slightly different from the average digimon. For the original digidestined, there were several catalytic lines for jumping to adult, perfect, and mega level evolutions and for the second generation, there were several more for Jogress and Armor. In the data of the average wandering child digimon, there was only one catalytic line of digital script, and it only consisted of a few characters that had to do with age and extremities, and special lines were allotted to digimon who reached Adult level naturally, and spent the majority of their time in that form. In the data of the worldwide chosen children who had no crests, there were two or three lines only a little more complex than a wild digimon.

Punimon had several lines missing and no catalytic script at all.

Noriko confirmed it. Punimon had never once digivolved. He was a strong little guy, and he did have a certain reaction to Noriko's D3, but he had never actually become another digimon.

"Is that even possible?" Tentomon asked. "A partner digimon will always do what he must to protect his partner. Digivolution is like a special privilege that surfaces from that bond."

Noriko frowned. "I know; and he _does_ get stronger in reaction. He just never…actually changes. There's a mark that appears on his head, but that's all."

"Looks like a sun right?"

She looked up, and he flipped the computer screen so she could see. She wouldn't understand most of it, but he carefully explained that the several stylized sun-like symbols in the data represented all the places where his catalytic script was missing.

"It could be the mark that's making him ill," Koushiro explained.

Punimon woke, and Noriko went and cradled the tiny form in her arms. "No… Punimon didn't become ill like this until yesterday."

Koushiro blinked stupidly. It hadn't been twenty four hours since he was sitting in Odaiba, with his heart full of joy and his stomach full of butterflies. It hadn't been a _day_ yet, and wouldn't be for another two hours. Holy crap. His nerves tensed a little at the thought. It felt like it had been weeks. He wondered how his parents must be doing...but calling them was probably not wise.

"Helloooo?"

Noriko jumped, and Koushiro whirled so fast that his spare laptop spun out of his lap. It was Tentomon who saved it. The voice was coming from the machine.

"Sorry," it said. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"Who are you?"

"Well, I'm a digimon...and I'm not. I'm like Gennai, I suppose. Take me to the lab; it'll be much easier to explain in person."

Koushiro and Noriko glanced at each other and headed back into the lab, where Miyako was bent over her desk with her head down. Her eyes opened as soon as they came near the long table, and she sat up. The exhaustion that plagued most of the lab members over the totality of the project had never managed to take a hold of her, and watched them with with very aware eyes.

"How's Punimon?"

"We're working on it, but it seems like we have a visitor."

Miyako raised a brow, and rolled her chair over to where Koushiro was setting up. "Is Gennai coming?"

"Close," the voice chimed. "But not quite. I'm afraid the standard gates are still closed and I cannot pass through to you. Run Alice's Door please?"

Miyako gave Koushiro a suspicious glance. That was the name of the original program they'd used to create small, contained gates right there in the lab. The prototype only created gates centimeters wide when they first ran it, so they had named it after tiny door in a fairytale. It was a very closely guarded secret, since it was the founding achievement of the Project.

And because it didn't necessarily go to the digital world.

In trying to integrate a coordinate system into the program, so that the digital world and real world locations would sync properly, illogical coordinates became available. Generally, these illogical coordinates were empty, and no one wanted to poke around and find out if there was ever a case otherwise. Alice's Door could be a gateway to nowhere, or to anywhere.

Koushiro licked his lips, and tried not to think about Pal. "Do you have specific coordinates...?"

The voice hummed quizzically, in an almost carefree fashion. "I think anywhere in the digital world will be good... Perhaps Primary Village will make my task easiest."

Miyako did not look pleased, but Koushiro still remembered that vast, smart-mouthed digimon saying 'I'm sending help'. He set the coordinates and ran the program. The gate opened, just as tiny as could be, and the laptop shone in response. They were all expecting different things, but what came through was not what any of them pictured.

It was, at first glance, a woman. She was tall, broad shouldered, and at the very prime of both physical health and feminine charms. She was patch skinned. For whatever reason, tiny continents of light and dark patterned her body, like she had given her body to a master artist and he'd colored her with cream and cherry wood. Her curly black hair had several white streaks in it. Her eyes were like little bubbles of joy, one pale blue, and the other an odd deep ocher. She seemed to emanate benevolence, and it was impossible to tell where or when she might be from. She was less like an actual human and more like the archetype of one; a good, or perhaps merely innocent one.

A closer look—which Koushiro was denied by a sudden clapping of Miyako's hand over his eyes—revealed that she had a holy ring around each of her wrists and ankles. She was also wearing several other pieces of jewelry. Earrings of Hope and Light, a spiral armlet of three loops with Courage, Friendship, and Reliability, a necklace of Love, Kindness, and Sincerity, a jewel of Knowledge on a thin circlet, and a ring to each hand for Fate and Miracles. Most impressive was the belt of red digicores around her otherwise naked waist.

She greeted them in a voice like lotuses singing to the sun. "Nice to meet you. I'm Amphimon."

"Amphi…?"

She nodded. "I was created as a digimon who was also human, and a human who was also a digimon, effectively rendering me as neither, like Gennai. However, unlike Gennai, I was specifically made to exist with a foot in both worlds. I am the sum of all data on partner humans, and partner relations dating from far back to the era when the great prophecies were written. I have been sent to provide counsel and help you fix the irregularities as swiftly as possible." She looked at the laptop, and her holy rings jingled faintly. The light suddenly went out, Alice's Door stopped running, and the gate closed with a belch of data that wrapped itself around her, and turned out to be her clothes, which were plain and white and yet more like a goddess' robe than a simple gown.

Miyako released her grip on Koushiro's face, barely aware that she had even grabbed him. The prospect of a helper stripped her of her caution. "Did we break this? Everything? Directly? I mean…" She took a deep breath. "Are we the direct cause of this problem?"

The patches of dark and light skin on Amphimon's body shifted. It was intensely disturbing, but they couldn't look away. "Things are quite broken, but it is no direct fault of yours. My creator is pleased with your effort, and approves of your goals. The problem is, in reality, quite small and easily fixable. A mere pebble, left from your previous battles, has gotten into the gears of your work and stopped them entirely."

Miyako and Koushiro leaned against one another, their legs weak with relief. They had been expecting a lot more worry and work, with little good news; certainly none quite so excellent.

Noriko stepped forward, and held up Punimon. "What about my partner? Can you fix whatever is wrong with him too?"

Amphimon made a pleased sound. "You already have a portion of the problem." The jewels of Love, Knowledge, Fate, and Miracles lit up. "Come, we must send him back."

"Send him back where?" Noriko asked cautiously, pulling Punimon back to her chest.

"To Primary Village, of course."

Koushiro jumped to put simself between Noriko and Amphimon.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"My job," she replied agreeably.

"What's wrong with Punimon, and why does he have to d..." He glanced at Noriko. "Why does he have to go to Primary Village?"

"How shall I say this...?" She pressed her palms together. "In the summer of 1999, many digimon were killed in the real world. In 2002, even more were added to this number. The data of these creatures, forever barred from their return to Primary Village, caused the problem you are having. You sought to superimpose the world of data onto the world of humans. Naturally, the stray data was attracted to its source…But because only paired individuals are allowed free passage through your gates, all this data could do was swarm inside the real world coordinates…And when you entered the final phase and brought the digital world down on top of this…" A dim glow appeared where her palms met, and she pressed them together more and more forcefully, until eventually both slipped violently in opposite directions.

"Your world and the digital world simply…slipped out of sync."

"And a different one filled the gap…? That doesn't sound like a tiny pebble of a problem at all!"

"Trust me. I cannot explain it to you, because I am similarly uninformed, but my creator has assured me that the issue will resolve itself once my job is done."

Koushiro pressed his fingers into his temples. "Alright, alright. Assuming that it really will work out that way… What does that have to do with Noriko's partner?"

"Punimon wasn't born quite right, as you are aware. In the moment when the worlds were connected by Vamdemon's darkness and the light of the digivices, the same stray data that created this problem was attracted, and Punimon received some of it during his creation. It is not a problem, or at least, it wasn't before. The rest of the data that couldn't make it into Punimon's being was still in the real world until you finished Project Download. With the gate present, it is being called to Primary Village to be completed. The tension is making Punimon ill, and if we do not send him back, he will go the way of the two worlds and simply…slip apart from the strain."

Noriko stepped forward. Her face was cherry red beneath her bangs as she handed Punimon over. She laughed a little. "I see… I was never meant to keep him…"

"Do not go back to the path of despair." Amphimon turned Noriko's chin up. "You will let him go now, but he will come back to you as he should have been. He will still be your partner, and this time he will grow properly. All you have to do is want it. Remember how it felt in that moment when you decided your dream was worth chasing, and want it. Want it more than anything. That will guide him back to you."

"But when?"

"As soon as we fix the larger problem."

"Will it hurt him?"

Amphimon smiled. "No, it doesn't have to hurt at all." The holy rings at Amphimon's limbs chimed and spun. There was a light that only Noriko forced herself to look into, and she saw Punimon dissipate into a fine dust of data right before her eyes. Alice's Door opened, allowing Punimon to pass through to where he belonged, and closed quietly behind the last of him.

In the quiet, Amphimon reached out and stroked Noriko's hair. Noriko forgot entirely that Amphimon wasn't human, and thrust her face into the digimon's robes, sobbing in low, frustrated bursts. Amphimon was faring marginally better.

Miyako was immobile. The last time she'd seen a partner digimon die, it was Wormmon.

"To be separated hurts equally on both sides," she whispered, and turned her eyes to Koushiro. "It is no wonder my master approves of your endeavors, Izumi. Now is no time for tears though. Ichijouji is calling you."

Koushiro went to the laptop to read the message from Ken. "He says he crossed into the other world a couple of times, but he's worried about not being able to contact us. He wants to be able to send us a map or something we can use to get an idea of where he's been. Amphimon?"

She was drying Noriko's eyes with a corner of her gown. "I can't help you map the area as he goes, but I can act as a connection between this computer and his digivice when he comes back to this world or the digital world. I should be able to read his digivice at that time. Does he know where he was?"

Koushiro did some typing, and in a few moments, there was a reply. "He says it's someplace called Blackthorn."

A smile crossed Amphimon's lips. "Tell him to go south. Find Cherrygrove."

This snapped Miyako out of her daze. "You know that place?"

"Not particularly. My creator used my half-finished data to deliver your tags and crests, and some messages. I just recall sending someone else to a place called Cherrygrove."

"Do you remember who it was?"

Amphimon shook her head.

"Damn, we might find one person if you're sending them to the same spot, but…there's a whole world to explore? How will we find the others with just Ken?"

"Isn't that obvious? Send more than just Ken."

It was the first perfectly sensible thing their new friend had said yet.

* * *

Takeru got the message mere moments later. They had a new ally? Good. This was fixable? Awesome. There was another world beyond that barrier, and he, Yamato, and Ken were supposed to explore it and find the others? Well, that was just what he needed to hear.

Because he was way ahead of them.

Pegasmon had obligingly flown them southeast from Spain as soon as they got word of what happened. When the heat got oppressive, they landed, spent the day waiting it out in the remaining bits of Algeria, and were back on their way as soon as the heat of the day faded. Now, he drove his partner harder than ever, as they approached the binary wall. Maybe on the other side it wouldn't be as hot, and they could travel at a pace that was less stamina draining for Pegasmon, who had borne his frantic behavior with extraordinary patience.

"Don't let me hurt you trying to find her," he said apologetically. "If you're tired, say so."

"Hikari and Tailmon re my friends too," Pegasmon replied sternly. "I'm sure they're safe, but I'll be happier when we're all together again. We still have to have that celebration party after all."

Takeru could help but laugh. Life was a little different at eighteen than it had been at twelve, but his partner hadn't changed a bit. For the first time since finding out Hikari was missing, he felt a little less frayed at the edges. She wasn't in the dark ocean this time. She was somewhere he could reach her if he held his hand out far enough. He passed through the barrier, and sailed into the dark. His digivice shone warmly in his pocket, and the other world opened up to them.

The sun was already high in the sky and there was a chill to the air even at their low altitude. They flew over mountains and hills and forests, through skies filled with creatures they had never seen before, never once losing their focus. They were on a mission to go southeast, to where Kilimanjaro once was.

To where, logically, Hikari and Tailmon would be.


	10. Chapter 10

The digital world woke to a day it had yet to see as tainted. No humans had yet brought them harm, and the binary on the horizon was a source of excited gossip, but little else. Project Download was a headline anywhere the digital world produced newspapers, but so few actually knew the technical details that the scrolling red band was not a threat.

In the morning light, groups of Floramon stretched their petals and played in ponds to refresh themselves. Herds of Tyranomon passed them by with hardly a glance, bumbling in their sleepiness and seeking the heat of the rising sun to stir their blood. Sleepy in-training digimon huddled together and alone in crevices where the night chill wouldn't find them, yet dreaming of human partners who would take them on perilous adventures to fight darkness in their world. The buzz of Flymon and the harsh cries of Cockatrimon and Akatorimon filled the air. It was just another dawn as usual outside of Babamon's home.

Yellow sunlight came through the window, and met the red light of the dying embers where Babamon snored in a chair scarcely large enough for a human child. The light lent an eerie copper glow to Tailmon's hooded eyes. This new day found her in an only slightly better mood than the previous night. Beside her, Hikari was in a thin, twitchy sleep. Her eyes were puffy, and the only reason she hadn't jerked awake in the night again was because her tears had worn her out.

Tailmon brushed her claws through the ponytail lying against Hikari's neck. It was about the same length as her mother's, but she still wore clips to control stray hair. Hikari would be an adult soon.

In a sudden, but not unprecedented moment of clarity, she found herself reflecting on just how _good _Hikari was. She had her flaws for sure. She'd become a little more like Taichi in the past few years, and in a pinch she could put on a brave face and charge forward just like he would, for better or worse. But she still had her insecurities that Tailmon was at a loss to help her with, and even in light of that, she was still the best thing that had ever happened in Tailmon's life. And as always, a cold needle of paranoia bit at the heel of this revelation. Maybe none of it was real, and she was still in hell, where her scars were fresh and nothing as good as this was ever going to come her way.

_No_. For the first time, she found she had a good rationalization for this reality. _If I was in a really good dream, this bastard wouldn't be here._

She walked over to the trainer, and the Koromon on the other side of the room stared at her with red anticipation in their eyes. Had they slept at all during the night? She had been so focused on Hikari that she didn't know, but the idea that they had all watched him in a silent, venomous huddle bothered her. They'd all turn into virus digimon if they kept pouring it on like that. That, she reasoned, was all the more reason for what she was going to do.

She was sorry he was human, but it was Ken who told her once during the review of the early inter-world laws and ethics codes that digimon were on the same level as humans. It was he who said, while looking regretfully inward, that humans would need punishment for offenses against digimon, the same way digimon would need punishment for offenses against humans.

"Call me a lady of the law then," she said, and kicked one of the trainers mauled arms.

He came awake with a screech of pain, which Tailmon muffled it by stuffing one of her gloves in his mouth. "Shut up!" she whispered harshly.

Babamon snuffled in her chair, but didn't stir. Neither did Hikari.

"You've done enough damage. The least you could do is not wake Hikari with your howling." She scowled at the tears welling up in his eyes. "It couldn't possibly be painful. Not after you burned an entire village of digimon who are only a little stronger than a bunch of kids with sharp sticks. Before you start crying about how much pain _you're _in, think of what you did to them."

He nodded furiously, and she could see panic in his eyes. Her stomach twisted. It was therapeutic for sure to see him humbled, but that cowering expression with her face reflected in his eyes made her fur crawl.

"...I'm sorry." She retrieved her glove, and sat beside his head, staring down at the floor. "This situation frustrates me. _You _frustrate me…but I don't have the mean streak to be as hard on you as I want to be… So please don't look at me that way."

The terror slowly faded from his eyes. He still looked helpless, but that had more to do with his condition, Tailmon hoped.

"You're going to answer some questions for me, and I'm going to try to clarify what the existence of a digimon is to you. We're going to come to an understanding this morning, and then we'll see if you deserve to be forgiven." He nodded again, and she gingerly held up a pokéball, touching as little of the mechanism as she could. "Let's start with this. I've got a problem with giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, but I think if you knew ahead of time that you might end up like this, you wouldn't have thrown this. What is it? How does it contain living creatures?"

"Pokéball," he choked out. "Capsule system."

"That's not much to go off of..."

"I don't know… Pokémon go in and come out…It turns them into data, I think."

That caught her attention. "It can turn living things into data?"

He nodded. "Only works on pokémon…"

She smiled bitterly. "What you mean is it only works the way it _should_ on pokémon. If it didn't work on digimon, you wouldn't be in this situation." She inspected the ball in her hand. "Is there one inside this one?"

He shook his head. "Seals."

She raised a brow, and glanced at the pile of his belongings. On the few stray pokéballs there, some did indeed have stickers on them. She ignored them, and set the one she was holding aside...far aside. It'd be just her luck to get sucked into one of those hellish little devices. She turned her focus back to the trainer. He kept pokémon. They fought for him, and even though he'd captured them from somewhere when they were once free creatures, they were probably loyal. Tailmon suspected that it was only the partner bond that had prevented her from killing Hikari when they first met, but this boy was no such case. How could a human have that kind of power over a wild animal?

"When we made the gates, we included a filter so that only humans with partner digimon could come here... This is our world; the digital world. If you're here, you have a partner. Where are they?"

His eyes looked back at his seal-coated pokéballs. "All my pokémon are my partners..."

"I see," Hikari said softly. "So that's how you got in."

Tailmon looked over her shoulder like a caught child. Hikari was very much awake. In Babamon's low-roofed home of Babamon, she couldn't stand, so she scooted over on her knees, and seated herself opposite of Tailmon, on the other side of the brutalized trainer. They made eye contact for a short period, and Tailmon saw a certain something she couldn't name and didn't like. It wasn't disappointment, but it wasn't happiness either. There was no resignation, or bitterness, just an enigmatic tiredness, as though she had a dull ache that wouldn't go away. Tailmon continued to gaze worriedly at her partner, but Hikari was already focused on the boy.

"I think I understand now, and I think this warrants at least some forgiveness."

The Koromon immediately growled their displeasure, but Tailmon's glare challenged them to get any ideas about attacking her partner. When they were silent, she looked to Hikari.

Hikari picked up a pokéball with a sticker on it, and clicked the button on the front. The red one—Charmander, was it?—emerged in a flash of white. It was still beat up from yesterday, but it held no obvious malice. It looked around without interest in the Koromon and without fear of Tailmon, but when it saw its trainer, its entire demeanor changed. The fire on the end of its tail flickered, and something that may have been a roar or a scream caught deep in its throat. It paced up and down in frantic half-executed motions, looking him over, at how badly he was injured, and only then did it look at Tailmon. The fire on its tail surged, and it braced itself to launch at her. The trainer struggled against his bandages, trying to tell it to calm down, but in the end, Hikari tossed its pokéball at it, and it disappeared mid-leap.

"Remind you of anything?" she asked, setting the ball aside.

"If the way this boy acted with the Koromon is any indication, he catches pokémon by beating them up and putting them into pokéballs. But after they get over it, they get protective, like partner digimon."

Hikari nodded. "The barrier to keep people with no partner digimon out, and digimon with no partner human in, allows pokémon and their trainers. The pokéballs…if they really turn living creatures into data, maybe they just don't know what to do with digimon? You're alive, but you're data as well. Maybe…they just put it back wrong?"

Tailmon's ears dropped as she thought on it, but she quickly gave up. "It would take Koushiro or Miyako to really make sense of that. I can get behind the idea of these things not being built to handle digimon, though." She glared at the red and white objects, at rest on the floor. "I still don't like the system, but I can write this off as an accident, I guess..."

"Thank you…" the trainer mumbled.

Tailmon whipped her tail ring against the floor, right next to his head. "I didn't say I forgive you."

Hikari watched her partner leap to the window, and out of it, in the truly fickle fashion of a feline. This new world had rubbed Tailmon the wrong way, and Hikari didn't blame her. Pokéballs seemed dangerously similar to dark spirals. The saving grace was that free will still seemed like an option for the pokémon. Hikari glanced at the Koromon. They were unhappy, glaring, just waiting for her to leave. It struck that rare nerve in her, and her patience slipped.

"What would Taichi and Agumon think if they saw you like this? I don't blame you if you don't forgive him, but only cowardly digimon would gang up on someone who was sorry and defenseless."

Her tone and mention of Taichi worked. They diffused quietly and in shame, and some of them started sniffling like chastised children. She turned back to the trainer. Soon, she decided, she and Tailmon would leave this place. They would go see this world, which had replaced Hikari's home world. They would blend into it, and watch it, and if it really was so much like the world Ken had tried to make…

She didn't yet know how, but she would stop it. She vowed on her crest, warm and reassuring between the breasts she had grown since it was last there.

"Tell me what it means to be a trainer," she said to the boy. "Tell me where you go, what you do, what your goals are. Tell me everything. But first, tell me your name."

"Joey."

* * *

Outside the digital world, morning had come and gone in Kanto. It was lunchtime, and Taichi ate in the good company of his partner and the nurse who had bandaged them both. Taichi was not the only one who'd had a hard time with the geodude. Agumon seemed to have enraged them, and was covered in bruises from the long fight that marked his arrival. The nurse insisted that Agumon stay until she was sure of his condition and Taichi agreed. They had no idea where they were, or where to go, or what had happened to bring them here. The extra days to think it out wouldn't hurt them. That and he had a sneaking suspicion she would have her helpers—terrifying, bizarrely cute things that called chansey—sing them to sleep again if they tried to sneak off. They resigned themselves, not unhappily, to spending awhile at the Pokémon center.

Sora, so nearby that they would later wonder how they missed each other, was in a similar position. Piyomon had finally wakened, and was up and about and rather cheerful all things considered, but her wing was still damaged. As Birdramon, the wounds might be small enough to let her fly, but as Piyomon, the bites were serious. Sora refused to try digivolving until it was healed, so they were grounded. Piyomon had accepted this with a smile, on the condition that Sora take it easy. Piyomon was better able to create a worthwhile heat source with her Magical Fire, allowing Sora to rest in relative comfort for the first time since they'd arrived.

Gently exercising her damaged wing and exploring where Sora couldn't helped Piyomon pass the time. The deeper inside the cave she went, it became colder and colder, and she had almost turned back at the sight of ice. What kept her from leaving, even though the cold made her wing ache, was a yellow-feathered duck. It was nearly the same size as her, and it had a decidedly vacant look on its face. It was holding its head and looking around as though it might be lost. Piyomon's better nature thought to help it, but as soon as it wandered too close, she launched herself at it, and sank her talons into its neck until the frantic quacking stopped. She had heard somewhere that duck's meat was supposed to be very good for one's health.

In Hoenn, where the day was not quite so far along, Daisuke and V-mon continued to snore on the slopes of Sootopolis while Iori and Submarimon glided along far below the ocean's surface. They had made the decision to leave Dewford upon waking, and progressed deep into the water, where they wouldn't be seen by anything but the aquatic pokémon around them. It was an uncomfortable ride. Iori had grown since the first time he rode Submarimon, and Submarimon had not grown with him. He bore the tight kneeling position with his usual stoicism, and focused on the waters around them, and the creatures living in it. Mostly it was just jellyfish. Tentacool, he remembered, were what they were. They maintained their distance, and were relatively harmless even when they did bump into them. He occasionally saw and made a point to avoid the gigantic creatures which must be their evolutions. They were so unlike their oddly graceful counterparts in the real world, who were dangerous, but wispy and beautiful in a way only sea creatures can be. These creatures exuded nothing but cold menace, and their tentacles often lashed out at the thing closest to them, either paralyzing or killing it, so that it could be eaten. When the sunlight filtering from the surface brightened, staryu drifted down around them like falling leaves. They fell to the ocean floor, and didn't move no matter where they landed. Even the red gems at their centers were dull and silent. For some reason, their lifeless fall to the depths unnerved Iori. He let go of the controls, rested his head against his knees, and let Submarimon guide them through the unknown waters.

Mimi may have been the only one having a superb experience. In Johto, where afternoon was in full swing, she and Palmon were finding their niche. On the way to Union Cave, a guy had challenged her to a pokémon battle. Because Palmon was so obviously with her, she had not been allowed to refuse, even though Palmon was technically not a pokémon. It was just how things were done that trainers always challenged other trainers. The battle began and ended while Mimi was still wondering if maybe this was a world permanently trapped in a samurai lifestyle. She had nothing against the whole 'sharpening one's skills on someone of equal or better strength' thing, but it meant that she'd be walking in fear of everyone. She couldn't just leave Palmon, not when they were so unfamiliar with the area. Or at least, she had been thinking all of this until he tried to give her money. Palmon had beaten the kid's team of slowpoke absolutely senseless, and the kid was upset, but he had immediately walked up to her and flipped out a little device like a stylishly shaped PDA. When it became obvious she didn't have one, he rolled his eyes and pulled a different one from his back. It was beat up, and an obviously older model, but he tossed it at her, loading with 1500 of some currency whose symbol looked suspiciously like the one for yen. They made their way to and through Union Cave, and by the time they arrived on the other side, Mimi never wanted to see another bat—zubats, that skirt-flipper in Azalea said—again. The zubats aside, they had managed to find out how to use the pokégear from a hiker inside the cave, and Mimi was in love with the idea that other trainers might reward her for defeating them. Palmon did not object to the battles, since the money and eventually the supplies they would buy comforted Mimi's worry. A map function had once existed, but no more. It was inaccessible on account of a flashing red 'Out of Date', but it didn't get them down. A map would've been more than they could have hoped for anyway. The pair spent their afternoon headed vaguely in the direction of Violet City, happy smiles on their face the whole way. They battled, earned, rested, ate, and battled again to the tune of the Pokémon march.


	11. Chapter 11

**Small note: Hiroshi's Biyomon and Sora's Piyomon are the same species, but for the sake of avoiding confusion, Hiroshi's partner employs the English name, while Sora's uses the Japanese name.**

* * *

The morning came quietly on Shimoshima.

Noriko and Hiroshi stood to one side, their eyes aglow with the light spilling from Amphimon's holy rings.

They were in an anterior room to the lab. The incessant messaging and postulating on how to find the others was necessary, but distracting to Amphimon's process. She sat on a chair, her eyes half-closed in a trance and her hands held out in a welcoming, beseeching manner. Two hundred feet of ethernet cable stretched between her body and the main room, one end plugged into the machine, and another plugged directly into the back of Amphimon's neck.

Biyomon looked up at Hiroshi, and broke the solemn silence with his demanding tone. "Will she be done soon?"

Noriko and Hiroshi shushed him sharply.

Biyomon pouted, and made a big show of marching to the door closing them off from the main hall. However, he closed the door gently after himself, barely even eliciting the gentle click of the latch sliding into place.

Amphimon was acting as a conduit. A faux-portal to the digital world that could attract the stray data to their physical location. From here, she could send them through Alice's Door to the digital world with Koushiro's help. It wouldn't do to open such a potentially unstable door many times, so she was calling insistently. Gathering every bit of stray data she could to herself, in the hopes of sending as much of it as she could to the digital world at a time.

It was a tedious process. The data was not sentient, of course, so it was drawn to the nearest gate sites. It was magnetism in essence, and Amphimon had to burn her energy in long stretches to create a pull that was strong enough to tear the data away from the existing gates. If they were moths, she had to be the brightest flame. The time to stop was difficult to gauge, as any data partially pulled to her would return from where it came, or the next nearest gate. She burnt herself out once, but she seemed to have learned her lesson.

Tiny particles of data, fine and bright as powder snow, seeped through the walls. They gathered around Amphimon like fireflies, nudging and bouncing off her skin in a futile attempt to pass through the illusion of a gate she was projecting.

Noriko's shoulders stiffened, and she squeezed her D3.

Hiroshi kept his eyes on the spectacle, but reached out to rest a hand on her head of short, fluffy hair. "It's okay," he whispered. "He'll be back."

She nodded staidly. "Of course he will."

* * *

It was time, at last.

Sora's shirt was stiff, covered in ugly patches where she had washed most but not all of Piyomon's blood out, and it smelled a little moldy. Her inner Japanese woman shuddered at the idea of putting it on, but she did it anyway. She had bigger problems than filth or fungus right now, and at last she could get up and do something about them. After three days of duck meat (and just last night a horned white seal that Sora felt kind of bad for eating) and exercise, Piyomon had recovered. She flew around gamely, glad to be back in the air and anxious to get Sora away from the grudge-holding sea dragons that still sent whirlpools to the surface.

"Should it be Garudamon?" Piyomon asked excitedly.

Sora shook her head. "As long as we don't fall into the water again, I think we'll be safe with Birdramon." She avoided mentioning the huge blue bird she had seen the first evening, and strapped her bag tightly to her back. "I also feel like we have a long way to fly…"

Piyomon landed in the sand, and snuggled against Sora's leg with a smile. "Even if it's a million miles away, I'll fly you home, Sora."

A swell of affection washed over Sora, and her crest warmed against her chest. She had no idea where home might be, but she knew she could trust Piyomon's promise. If Earth really was a million miles across, she knew her partner wouldn't bat a lash at flying it all if it meant getting Sora home. With a deep breath, she took hold of her digivice and watched it come brilliantly to life for the first time since their arrival. In a matter of seconds, she was riding Birdramon into the sky.

"Which way should we go?"

The sun still rose in the east wherever they were, or so she hoped. It was their only means of navigation. "North and kind of east. That's the direction of Japan if I'm not mistaken."

"Alright. Hold on tight!"

With a dip of her wings and a self-motivating cry, Birdramon veered off in the direction Sora had outlined. Behind them, not so far away at Cinnabar Island, Agumon looked up from a staryu he'd been investigating. His eyes scanned the sky, and failed to find the source, but he knew that cry anywhere.

"Taichi!" he yelled. "Taichi, come quick!"

* * *

"Dammit," Taichi hissed, holding up a pink feather tipped in blue. There was blood on it, but he didn't dare believe it was Piyomon's. Or Sora's.

Agumon nodded and nosed through the lumpy sand. "They must have been here for days, eating chicken or something. Look at all the bones."

"Those are psyduck bones."

They looked up at Nurse Joy. She had insisted on coming along, which was all the better really. Taichi had learned a lot from her, and even shared some things about himself and Agumon, but neither of them thought she should see several tons of bionic dinosaur sail into the air until it was absolutely time for them to leave. They had arrived at the Seafoam Isles on a boat she normally reserved for emergencies instead of MetalGreymon.

"Chan-sey!" her helper called. It was hopping up and down, gesturing to the ground outside the cave.

There were tracks in the sand. Deep, and still so well defined that Taichi could make out the pattern on the soles of Sora's shoes.

"Must be the newest..." Taichi mumbled thoughtfully. A thought came to him, and he began to follow their path. Soon, he found what he was looking for. "This is where they took off from!"

Agumon nodded as he circled Birdramon's huge claw marks in the sand. They were surrounded by smooth drifts created by her wings during takeoff. "Why is this important, Taichi?"

"Because we can assume they flew off in the direction they were facing." He whipped out his trusty binoculars and scanned the horizon. He knew Birdramon would be long gone by now, but maybe if he could make out what they were heading toward…

"There!" he pointed. "Nurse Joy, what's in that direction?"

"Let's see… Straight shot north… The first thing you'd hit is the junction between Route 18 and Cycling Road."

"Alright. That's where we're headed. Thanks for all your help, but you should go back to Cinnabar."

She frowned a little. "Is there anything else I can do for you and Agu-chan? How will you get there?"

Taichi still had to bite his cheek to not laugh at her nickname for Agumon. "You'll see. If you find any more people with digimon, tell them where I went."

"I will." She seemed uncertain for a moment, and handed him a small pearly scale. "That's a heart scale. In other cities, you'll find other Nurse Joys. We're all related, you see. Show them that, and tell them I sent you. They should be willing to help with anything you might need without asking too many questions."

He smiled. "Thanks. Agumon?"

"Ready when you are, Taichi!"

A flash of light, one from his digivice and one from his crest, and they were on their way, leaving behind a shocked, wobbling Nurse Joy. Taichi waved once, and focused on their path to the north. Catching up with Sora while Birdramon was flying would be impossible. MetalGreymon was fast, but he was also bulky. Taichi's only hope would be to cover as much ground as Sora did. If he could figure out where she was going, they might be able to catch her.

If Taichi had adjusted their direction by just a few degrees to the east, he'd have caught up to Sora a day and a half later as she took off just outside Vermillion City.

As it was, he found himself at the bottom of Cycling Road nearly three hours later, and was forced to land by the growling stomach of his partner. They had scarcely touched the ground when a biker approached them. He seemed stunned.

"Hey, man! What the hell was that?"

Taichi felt his stomach turn. He remembered Nurse Joy saying the Pokémon evolved, but de-evolving was probably not normal. That, and seeing a half-metal dinosaur flying in low to make his landing probably wasn't an everyday thing. As he tried to think of a reasonable excuse, more bikers surrounded him. Some were equally shocked, some had other agendas. In the end, he was trapped in a circle of roaring engines and sinister cackles.

"They got over that pretty fast…" Taichi muttered to Koromon, careful to keep his voice low.

"They say only the really smart or really dumb can recover that fast."

"I think it's fairly obvious what end we're dealing with." He kept his eye on the circle. They weren't threatening him. Not yet. This was just the intimidation show.

"Should I digivolve? I bet I could make it to Agumon at least."

Taichi was considering what it would mean to attack a bunch of thugs with Agumon, a whistle blared over the sound of the engines. They all quieted, and Taichi stood in confusion in the middle of the suddenly distracted bikers. He shifted as he fought the desperate urge to push them out of the way and find the source. It had been a long time since Hikari used whistles, but he still had an instinctive reaction to them. A woman's voice accompanied the revving of a different engine.

"Break it up!"

The bikers growled and grunted, but in the end, they disbanded and left Taichi standing in the middle of the road in front of a policewoman. She rolled up to him, and looked him over skeptically.

"What do you think you're doing, kid? This is _Cycling_ road. Where's your bike?"

He felt his temper flare up. "I don't _have_ a bike. I just flew here from the Seafoam islands."

"Well, why the hell would you land here of all places?"

"My ride was hungry. I wasn't about to make him keep going."

"Sure. Next you'll tell me that stuffed animal under your arm is your so-called ride." She reached down and pinched Koromon's cheek, only to quickly draw her hand back when he growled at her. "Well, shit. What the hell is that thing?"

"…You've got a foul mouth for a policewoman."

She rolled her eyes. "You try dealing with this bunch all day." She gestured to the bikers. "It could suck the maidenhood out of a nun." Taichi shifted uncomfortably, and she sighed."Well, I should give you a ticket, but you're just so pathetically harmless I'd feel like a bully. Get off the road and don't let me catch you on it again with no bike."

"Uh, thanks… Which way do I go?"

"Oh, for the love of..." She swerved, making a U-turn around them. "Get on the damn motorcycle."

Taichi didn't dare disobey. Mercifully, she was a sane driver.

* * *

"Iori, we are doing our best..."

"Your best is not good enough!"

Miyako frowned dejectedly, and Koushiro couldn't help but feel bad for her. Iori was beside himself on the other side of their connection. He had somehow run aground during his trip through unknown waters. To his horror, he had arrived several feet under the sands of the digital world and Submarimon was held so firmly in place that they couldn't even back themselves out into the oceans of Hoenn. If not for a quick use of Digmon's drills, they would have been buried alive.

According to Iori, others had not been so lucky.

Mere hours ago, Iori had found himself just outside of Full Metal City, surrounded by the bodies of unfortunate people and pokémon who probably didn't even know what hit them when it happened. Here and there, krabby and other water pokémon that had escaped their pokéballs picked the meat off of those who failed to survive as they pondered where the ocean might be. Iori thought hell might look this way: Refreshingly familiar with something small but horrifying to profane the sense of security.

He'd had the presence of mind to contact Miyako, but he was not in the right mind to talk or listen. He was breathing too quickly, and shrill when he spoke. Furious, confused, scared, and sorry for the lost lives he'd stumbled on, and rattled by the idea that it could he could have been dead like the rest if his partner were any different. The news of Amphimon and the real world situation had not improved the situation.

"Iori," Koushiro said sternly. "Remember when everyone was stuck in the oil rig, slowly running out of oxygen?"

"Of course I do!"

"I need you to focus like you did then. There are lives at stake. You're seeing it for yourself."

There was a sniffling noise from the other side, but nothing else for awhile.

"What am I supposed to do?" he finally asked.

"We sent Yamato south to look for you guys. He could be anywhere in your region, but he's definitely there. I know it must be tempting to just come home from the digital world, but meeting Yamato and finding Daisuke should be your concern first."

"What about this place? We can't leave it here. No one else needs to die like this."

Koushiro looked at the long blue cable connecting Amphimon to the other room. He rubbed the back of his neck, and gave the cord an experimental tug. Hiroshi appeared in the doorway, carefully holding the wire such that it could not be yanked.

"Now's not the best time."

"I'm sorry, but this is a major problem, and I don't feel comfortable making a decision without her input."

He scanned the room, looking closely at the slumped postures and strained faces of his predecessors. And he turned on his heel and vanished back into the hall.

Amphimon entered at a slow, trance-like pace, carefully pulling the cloud of data along with her being. When Alice's Door opened, it rushed from her, swirling into the open gate like debris riding a whirlwind.

She pulled the plug herself, and breathed deeply. She seemed as annoyed as she was concerned. "What is it?"

Koushiro kept the explanation as short and factual as he could, and yet Amphimon's eyes grew large and he was certain he could see her white eyelashes clumping together with moisture. She didn't cry, but her silence was heavy with grief.

"Please," Iori's pleading voice said over the speakers. "Please close these gates."

The look in Amphimon's eyes changed. "You cannot close the gates."

"We can't let this keep happening! How many people—!"

The motherly face Miyako and Koushiro had come to associate with Amphimon disappeared and her voiced crashed in their ears like a tidal wave. "You cannot close the gates!"

The only sound in the hush was the hum of the computer and the sound of her holy rings spinning violently on her wrists and ankles.

"You do not know what will happen, and neither do we. If humans got in through that gate, what if they have come in elsewhere? What if by closing the gates you trap the others? Would you lock so many into foreign worlds just to save them?"

The image of the staryu falling silently through the depths of the ocean like leaves came back and sent a chill down Iori's spine. He couldn't imagine forcing people to look at scenery as unsettlingly alien as that had been for him.

"I'm sorry."

The rings stopped spinning, and Amphimon's gentle nature was restored. "Don't be. It is a good thing that this senseless loss disturbs you, Iori. Izumi, it's a good time to try what I intended for Ken, don't you think?"

Koushiro nodded and leaned in so Iori could hear him. "Take your digivice out. Amphimon is going to try mapping that world by connecting to your D3."

He could picture the curious, slightly confused face Iori was making. "Can digimon do that?"

Kyoushiro glanced over and saw Amphimon standing beside the super computer with Miyako's digivice. He cringed as she plunged several cables into her fingertips and connected them and the digivice. Almost immediately, the edges of her gown started to break down into script, but she stabilized just a quickly and gave Koushiro the OK.

"Amphimon can. You ready?"

He heard Armadimon say something to the tune of 'hurry up' and nodded to Amphimon.

Visual came first. Not of the other world, but of Armadimon's face. Amphimon made a self-chastising noise, and the computer buzzed with activity. The visual disappeared.

"Unprocessed?" she suddenly said. "Oh, you poor thing."

"Amphi—?"

Amphimon was busy. "INITIATING PRIMARY DATA TRANSFER."

"10%...40%...90%...PRIMARY DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE. OPENING."

The computer blared with disapproval.

"ACCESS DENIED. ACCESS PARAMETERS FIELD LEFT UNSPECIFIED."

For a moment they stood there in stunned silence. It took Amphimon's eerily glowing eyes turning Koushiro's direction to remind him that he had a part to play.

"Er, right. Reference AD_beta01."

"… … … ACCESS PARAMETERS DEFINED. FILE NOW AVAILABLE ON DATABASES L-12, K-11, AND K-22. OPENING."

Every monitor at every terminal in the table went wild. Raw, unprocessed data scrolled on all of them, even the big screen at the far end of the room.

"PROCESSING COMPLETE. INITIATING PROCESSED DATA TRANSFER."

"What's happening?" Iori yelled. "My digivice is glowing!"

Amphimon shifted, and her holy rings spun quietly, like her own personal cooling fans. "CaLm DOwN."

One by one, the screens switched off, and only the big screen was left. "Data processed and transferred. Accessing function D.3. Calculating location relative to other digivices. Calculating encountered landmass. Calculating likely pattern of un-encountered landmass within 30% error."

"THIRTY?!"

She scowled. "It's geography, and I'm not a satellite. I'm doing the best I can."

The view on the screen split in two. The right had clusters upon clusters of shining white lights that were no doubt digivices. At the far southwest corner of the left was a basic topographical map. The visible edges were of poor quality, where all the guessing had been done before the unknowns became too many. The center, where Iori had actually been, was crystal clear.

Koushiro was highly impressed. "Amazing… This kind of information actually exists on a digivice?"

"On a D3, yes. Iori must have tried the Detect function several times because there were pages upon pages of raw data where the function didn't know how to process that world. I just ran the basic mapping data together with the raw data it couldn't process and used my own form of the Detect function." She gestured to the map with the digivice clusters.

"You can see all of them?"

She smiled. "Just like you can see stars in the night. Unfortunately, digivices of any kind can't make heads or tails of even that processed information, but the D-Terminal will. Iori, you should go now. Find Yamato. The sooner we get you guys back, the sooner we can be done with this problem."

"I'm on it!"

"Iori!"

"Yes?"

"...You should be able to take those creatures back to their world if you try. I won't ask you to deal with the dead, but there's no reason the living should be left to fend for themselves in the digital world. Do what you can."

There was a silence, punctuated by a single muffled sniffle. "I will."

The speakers deadened, and the connection with Iori was lost.

Koushiro sighed with relief. "I'm glad that worked."

Miyako smiled. "Next time we get in touch with Ken, we should do this. His map would be useful, since most of the others disappeared on this side of the world."

"Yeah..." Koushiro was staring at the new maps. Something was off in a way he couldn't put his finger on. "Does this look a little strange to anyone but me?"

Amphimon stopped in the middle of pulling the cables from her fingertips. Her breath escaped in heated hissing rasp far too long for human lungs. The patches on her skin spun like a world out of control on its axis and her eyes bulged from her head.

"Amphimon?"

PRIMARY DEFENSE SYSTEM OFFLINE, her voice blared from her gaping but motionless mouth. SECONDARY DEFENSE SYSTEM FAILING.

"Why now?" Miyako groaned.

A rumble came from above them, strong enough to rattle the chairs dotting the room. They were being attacked. Worse still, they seemed to have a strong computer on their side; one strong enough to down the defense system. They could still rely on the encryption, but a skilled machine in serious hands could eventually crack that, given the time. And if they had gone so far as downing the external defenses, they were probably _very_ serious.

CAUTION, Amphimon warned. UKNOWN PROGRAM RUNNING.

A hot red light shone from the pillar that made up the main computer. Amphimon had managed to plug herself back in, and her digicores were glowing as she overlapped with the computer. Her holy rings clattered, and her whole body seemed to be fading in and out of flesh and binary. The room shook again, more violently this time.

Tentomon flew into the lab in a panic.

"Soldiers! Lots of them!"

Miyako pushed Koushiro. "Go! Hawkmon is still in the digital world so I can't fight! Go help Hiroshi and the others! I'll stay here and try to help Amphimon!"

Koushiro ran down the hall toward the surface. From behind, he heard the alarm bells of Amphimon's holy rings as she made her stand as a surprise defense system for whoever was trying to get in. From ahead, he heard a scream and what he futilely prayed wasn't the sound of heavy fire.


	12. Chapter 12

The main entrance was no doubt the heart of the chaos, so Koushiro and Tentomon took the alternate route. They emerged in a cave that stank of large predators and carrion, though neither was actually present. It was just to discourage exploration. It was a convenient, pre-existing piece of nature that now acted as both an excellent location for surveillance and an emergency escape route, fortified to withstand quakes, cave ins, rock slides, and anything else that might threaten to trap them within their own facility. A dense growth of burdock and ferns provided cover for Koushiro and Tentomon as they crawled out. Peeking out, they could see everything happening at the main entrance, scarcely a hundred feet up the slope of the mountain.

The soldiers were swarming and surging toward the main entrance, each wearing markedly different uniforms that signaled their home countries. They were positioning themselves as favorably as possible along the slopes. Koushiro could hear their boots coming down all around him, like so many ants swarming over fallen sugar. Mostly they were higher up, since there were no advantages to having the lower ground in an attack, but Koushiro flattened himself along the ground anyway. He didn't know what getting caught might mean, but he remembered the interrogation he'd received on the plane, and so did the still-discolored bruise on his jaw.

And the roaring, savage face of the man who'd administered it, when Koushiro had escaped his grasp.

He shook his head and focused. From the ground, he could see Hiroshi darting through the trees with Airdramon, moving in wild zigzags to avoid being hit by the flying bullets. They didn't make it look quite as effortless as they had before. The men who had been on the mountain to begin with had long since recovered, and now there were so many more. He remembered the scream, and his eyes searched frantically until they found Reppamon. He was standing protectively over Keiko while his tail reacted to bullets flying their way. Noriko was with her, to Koushiro's horror. She seemed to be acting as the medic, and doing it efficiently, which meant Keiko's wound probably wasn't too bad...but she had no partner to defend her.

There was a shrill whistling noise overhead. Koushiro looked up, and saw Aidramon shoot by like a winged dart, winding deftly through the firs. A shell of some kind overtook them, but it went too high and passed them by, exploding against a slope. The noise of it was deafening, and a spray of wood, stone, and dirt spattered against Koushiro's ducked head.

Airdramon sailed high. Hiroshi was with him, but they were just drawing fire without doing any attacking.

And Koushiro knew why as he looked at his partner.

"Tentomon… We've never fought a human before. Would you, if I asked?"

"Of course," Tentomon replied plainly. "Humans are no more or less real than digimon, and we never frivolously kill digimon. I trust you would only ask under a dire circumstance, but I do hope you never ask."

"Why?"

"I think you know this, but a human doesn't possess the power to defend itself against a digimon anymore than it does tigers and the common cold. We have always destroyed only the biggest, strongest, and most dangerous of our opponents. Mummymon and Arukenimon tried to kill the second generation digidestined many times, but even when the opportunity to destroy them was presented, defeating them was always enough. They just weren't a big enough threat."

Koushiro turned somberly back to the fighting on the mountain. "I think the others feel that way too."

"It's worse for you, because you're humans."

"Is it worse for you when it's digimon?"

"If the opponent says 'to the death' or some even worse fate, we fight without hesitation because they're strong enough to make that reality happen if we don't. There is no human with such raw power in their hands. It is difficult to compare the two."

Koushiro was not sure how much he liked the answer. Humans were perfectly capable of destruction and atrocity, no different from any digimon. But he understood. It was true; these men weren't controlling some immense power that couldn't be stopped without destroying them. They were just people, and once the bullets were gone, all they had was their own hands. He grabbed a short, thick branch, got himself into a crouch, and started moving up the mountain side. They needed to reach the main entrance, and so they moved closer and closer, watching their surroundings and hoping they didn't get shot.

"If…" Koushiro began. "If we were attacked by a human… I don't know if I could kill, but…"

A twig snapped on the other side of a tree, and Koushiro saw a soldier reloading his gun. He was wearing a thick helmet, but his head was bent forward, exposing the back of his neck. In a sudden rush of adrenaline, Koushiro bounded out of his crouch and the soldier had scarcely looked to the side when stars exploded into his vision, filled them, and then faded to darkness.

"Koushiro!" Tentomon whispered, alarmed but attempting to stay quiet. "Why did you do that?!"

Koushiro licked his lips, and picked up the soldiers gun. It was big. Complicated. Heavy. He threw it away before he could remind himself how stupid it was to just toss something so volatile down a mountain. He found a pistol instead.

"Like this isn't just as heavy…" He laughed nervously and licked his lips. "Tentomon… You fight digimon because I can't. A… A human is within my power. I may not be able to kill... No, I can't kill. But I can fight. …So you don't have to."

"Koushiro..."

His cell phone vibrated. It was Miyako, but he didn't dare answer. The distraction could cost him his life. Miyako solved the problem with a text message of two ominous, confusing words:

_Not human._

* * *

Hiroshi took to the ground. It was all he could do to help his partner at this point. The air was rife with bullets, and his teenaged body was fifty-some kilos of worry and weight slowing Aidramon down. He took cover behind Reppamon with the girls, and glared out at the forest.

"What are they waiting for? If they all focused, they could kill us right here!"

Noriko was staring out at the battleground with a quiet, thoughtful gaze. To the casual eye, she would look harmless even if Punimon was with her. Without him, she probably seemed like little more than a burden on the fighters, but that was false. Noriko was the one who organized the plays. Perhaps it was some kind of residue leftover from the dark spores, and perhaps it was just an ability she'd always had, but she was a good tactician. She'd never suspected she would have to deal with a firefight, but she did her best to cope. She convinced herself it was a game. That the bullets were just shots from overambitious water guns. A childish thought yes, but contemplating the idea of coming face to face with her mortality would not have allowed her to remain calm and think.

The problem she faced was difficult. The element of surprise had been on their side last time. They were able to make the enemy think there was only Airdramon while Reppamon found them and incapacitated them. She could try organizing a similar deal with Koushiro, but Kabuterimon was unwieldy in such a densely packed forest, and there were far too many. Word would spread and they would counter. A head on attack might prove useful, but the damage to the area would be massive, and they would be guaranteed to kill someone.

The soldiers likely knew that, and they were perfectly right to attack first. Perfectly right to be afraid.

She sighed. "I think we're out of options, unless you can think of a way to pull a broad area attack without creating a body count. We need to retreat."

"And let them win?!" shouted Keiko. "Not a chance. Not a chance in hell!"

"Keiko. They aren't after us. They want the digimon out of the way. The digimon are the threat for them. Your wound was an accident, and they noticed. That's why they eased fire on Reppamon. Soon they're going to realize they're wasting bullets and try something a little more… precise."

Keiko rose to her feet. "I won't turn back here Noriko! We can't! Even if it's dangerous, we have to stand our ground! If we end up under siege, it only means we'd be making our final stand inside the base where we might accidentally destroy all the hard work the others have done for all these years!"

"Are you suggesting we stay out here and wait to be overtaken?"

Hiroshi stepped in between the two girls before it could get heated. "Noriko is right Keiko. What can we do?"

"Call Airdramon down here," she said reasonably enough.

"What? Why?"

She glared dangerously. "If we can't win this with a thought out plan, we're gonna take a gamble. Just do it."

Hiroshi ran his fingers swiftly through his hair. He looked to Noriko, but her face was a tense sea of apprehension and assent. He whistled sharply, and Aidramon descended, coiling his body defensively around his partner.

"What now?"

Noriko raised a hand for silence, and surprisingly it came. A stray bullet or two zipped by, but they were barely warning shots. The mountains were no longer buzzing with the sounds of footsteps and gunfire. It was impressive, since Noriko had estimated between three and four hundred soldiers out there. She took a step forward, but Keiko moved ahead of her, loop earrings bouncing with the force of her step. She planted her hands defiantly on her tiny hips and shouted aggressively to the surrounding slopes.

"You win this battle! You know we're here, and we can't take you out one by one like last time! We will not take the lives of humans, so stop trying to kill our partners!" Hiroshi grabbed Keiko's arm to pull her back, but she wrenched free. "If you can kill digimon who aren't fighting back, you're murderers! If they wanted they could wipe you out before breakfast! This is _mercy_!"

There was silence in the mountains, and to their surprise, a man came forward. Koushiro, still crawling in the ferns several yards down the mountain, recognized him. It was the American man who had tried to 'rescue' him. The bruise on Koushiro's jaw, still not quite healed, suddenly throbbed as he realized who they were surrounded by. They were the soldiers who crashed the plane. He had only seen the American ones, but he remembered all the noise coming from outside and the excessive amount of activity. There had been a melee on that plane, even though it should have been a simple rescue. There was more than one country on the mountain, and they were willing to fight together just to get him in their claws.

To her credit, Keiko didn't bat a single dark lash at the imposing presence of the commander, and their stand off was almost comical for it. Keiko was just a girl; maybe sixteen or seventeen, her poncho tucked into her waistband and her chest puffed out haughtily. Everything about her posture said she had no fear, right down to the beret sitting on her head at a decidedly jaunty angle. The military man was the size of a bear in comparison, grizzled and cold with not so much as a fiber of his uniform out of place.

And then Noriko stepped in between them.

Noriko, who made it somehow far less funny, perhaps because she was smaller and so different from Keiko. Where Keiko had the cocky approach, Noriko stood straight and her expression was somber. Her growth spurt hadn't arrived, making her youth more obvious, but she had a severity that Keiko couldn't match. Despite her partnerless state and her runty size, she had the greater gravity.

"It was wise of you to surrender," the man said in extremely polite Japanese.

"We surrendered nothing," she countered immediately. It was difficult to match such unusual politeness, but she knew he spoke that way to intimidate her. "We said that our partners would not kill you. You have won the battle against them, but you still have us to deal with."

"You?" He chuckled. "What can you do? You're just a child."

Her stare intensified. "Children can be stubborn."

"You have no means to fight."

"We have the will."

To Noriko's surprise, the man closed the gap between them and in an instant, she was down. Her arm twisted painfully behind her back, and all she could feel was the man's huge hands locked around her tiny wrists. One of his knees pressed painfully down on her calves. It hurt just to be still, so she didn't dare to move.

"Willpower is worth terribly little against a superior opponent. Now, you have two options. You can call Koushiro Izumi out here, or I dislocate your arm. What's it going to be?"

The digimon were bristling with fury that was almost tangible, but they didn't dare make any fast moves. Even the single step forward by Keiko made him twist Noriko's arm harder, until she was grunting into the dirt between her stubbornly grinding teeth.

From the dust, Noriko saw Koushiro just down the slope. She saw the pistol he was carrying, and she saw him get ready to throw it aside and come forward.

"Don't even," she snarled. "Don't even for one second it's going to happen like that! Koushiro is our only hope to fix this, and we won't give him to you! Not ever!"

"A pity."

She heard a dull crunch in her shoulder that sounded almost as bad as it felt. The pain was a blinding white arrow that seemed to ricochet on every nerve in her body in the space of a split second. She thought she might be screaming, but it was only a high ringing in her ears. She felt mud on her cheeks where her tears were pouring soundlessly into the dirt. The pain faded to a sharp red glow, and yet all she could do was think of her partner, who would never have let this happen to her.

* * *

This place was not Primary Village. Somehow, he was sure it wasn't even File Island. Were those places important? Yes, he should have been there. He was a hatchling; a fresh digimon. So why was he beside a river? And why were there mountains?

_Punimon…_

His tiny red ears (could they really be called ears?) pricked up, and he was filled with a sudden panic. He knew that voice. She was calling for him. How had he been separated from her in the first place? He recalled Amphimon dimly. He recalled being sick, being…incomplete. He was better now, he hoped. He felt better. As soon as he found her, he would digivolve. They would find out what he became together.

But where was she?

He didn't know, but he had an urgent, itchy feeling that she needed him. He tried looking around, hoping she was nearby. She wasn't.

"Noriko…"

It was dark. Anything might hear him. He couldn't help himself.

"_Norikoooo_!"

_Air Shot!_

He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the speedy bullet of wind that parted the grass. His training had apparently not left him, and he braced for a fight as he searched for his opponent. To his surprise, a human boy appeared first, startled out of his sleep. A flashlight clicked on, exposing a Patamon on his chest who looked only slightly more alert.

"A baby digimon...?" the boy asked.

"I didn't hurt him, did I Takeru?"

Punimon recognized them as partners. He couldn't see the digivice, but what other explanation could there possibly be? He bounced forward, until he was right in front of them, only one question on his mind.

"Do you know where Noriko is?"


	13. Chapter 13

Miyako's phone was somewhere among the half open books and fluttering papers Koushiro had scattered all over the floor. The cellphone was no longer on her mind. She hardly remembered that she had contacted him to begin with. She paced back and forth, more angry then nervous and more terrified than angry. Without Hawkmon, she couldn't help the others fight, and even if he were there, they couldn't have done anything to stop the thing ripping through the computer. It didn't exist outside the between-space Gennai usually moved through. Amphimon was fighting it alone, and she was now little more than a series of ones and zeroes in the shape of a woman, hanging onto her existence in the real world by the cables binding her to the computer. Only the holy rings and the digicores remained undisturbed.

_…t-t-t-t._

She looked up, startled out of her agitated pacing.

_...m-m-m-m._

With the exception of the computer's energetic humming, and the occasional gentle swishing as a piece of Amphimon's robe materialized, there was an eerie stillness in the lab. ...So where was that noise coming from? Her fingers tightened around a textbook. It was all she had. She stepped past the computer, into the hallway. There was no one. The walls were stark, uninteresting, and made entirely of gray cement. She rubbed her shoulders against a sudden chill, and stepped back into the lab where she failed to suppress a little scream at finding Amphimon standing partially materialized in the middle of the room, covered by a soft haze that hid her form.

"A…Amphimon?" Miyako squeaked.

"...You're sure? You don't really belong there..."

Miyako's eyes widened. "Who are you talking to?"

"Alright, but what about...oh. You can do that? Yes, it is weak...but don't linger. Please, be careful..."

The haze vanished, leaving behind only Amphimon. Her fingers twitched and Koushiro's terminal responded. Soon, the tiny door opened, and something moved, big enough to create a gentle breeze as it passed. Amphimon's holy rings glowed white-hot, as they did when she over-exerted.

But just as soon as it began, it was over, and she sagged bag into the real world, her figure strangely heavy in its sudden corporeality.

"It's done..."

Miyako stepped forward cautiously. "You mean you fought off the attacker?"

To Miyako's surprise, Amphimon shivered. "The attacker…no. The most irregular of the stray data has passed..."

"What about the attacker then? Did you kill it?"

"…It went back to sleep." Amphimon pulled the cables from her finger tips, and collapsed tiredly into the nearest chair.

Miyako felt herself relax a little, but she still walked in tentative steps toward the demoralized looking digimon. Amphimon didn't stir, even when Miyako knelt in front of her.

"What was it?"

"I don't know. I only know that it woke, and reached for Alice's Door. It was so strong, but luckily it was also tired."

"So it was a digimon?"

"It didn't feel like that. It felt more similar to Gennai and me, but when I tried to see it, there was only darkness. I was afraid. It was single-minded, and just wanted to swat me out of the way. If I started look like something it should pay attention to, I think…I wouldn't be able to defend myself."

"But you can pose enough of a problem to defend Alice's Door?"

Amphimon looked directly into Miyako's eyes for the first time. Alice's Door was a volatile prototype. It just so happened they knew where the digital world was, but if there was another world to be explored, Alice's Door could theoretically provide direct access to it. It was a dangerous thing, and the reason all the way points they created were less perfect than their prototype. If Gennai couldn't stand against it, their defenses would not last.

Amphimon could hold it off, but it meant she was bound to the machine for as long as it took them to find and destroy this thing,. She could scarcely handle splitting her attention between the machine and the real world, much less be expected to be the beacon for stray data, advise them, map the information in D3s back from the other world, and be a part of the machine's defense system at the same time. She wasn't made for this, and if they went through with it, her help would come at intervals. Miyako hadn't heard from Hawkmon since the project execution had gone wrong. If their defenses were compromised outside, Miyako had no way to keep Amphimon safe.

They both understood all of this to be true.

Amphimon nodded anyway, and removed every single one of her crest-imbued pieces of jewelry, laying them on the surface of the white table taking up the center of the room. With a resolutely clenched jaw, she made herself comfortable near the computer, lifted the hair at the nape of her neck, and inserted cable after cable into the base of her skull.

"I'm entrusting those to you," she said, nodding at the pile of jewelry. "They're exactly what they look like, so judge well who should get them."

"Be careful."

Amphimon nodded, and closed her eyes. Tiny bits of binary jumped from her body like snow, and Miyako was suddenly alone with a handful of objects that looked like fashion accessories. She looked down at the necklace where love and sincerity hung by the sides of kindness, and her heart swelled into her throat as she thought of her partner. It hadn't been that long yet, but everything kept happening so quickly, and he had yet to appear.

Warmth spread into her fingers, and she noticed a light in her hands. It was the armlet. It had split from one three-tiered spiral to a single band, where the crest of courage glowed fiercely,

"Oh no," she groaned, and ran with all her might toward the surface.

* * *

The sound of Noriko's bones grinding reverberated in the silence. She didn't scream. Keiko tried to convince herself that maybe Noriko was being stubborn to not make a sound, but she knew the truth even before the man picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She had fainted. There were even a few drops of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth where she must have bitten through the inside of her lip. He turned away, and Keiko ran forward.

"Wait!"

He turned, and in his hand there was a gun which he pointed directly at Keiko. She came to a stop more from shock than fear.

"If you disrupt me," he warned calmly. "I'll shoot you."

"What is _wrong_ with you?! Hostages and open fire on a bunch of kids? You just broke a little girl's arm!"

"Nonsense. I dislocated it."

"She didn't attack you! Didn't even raise her voice!"

A bullet zipped by Keiko's ear. She felt a small, warm droplet of what couldn't be anything but blood run from her jaw down to the tip of her chin. Her vision darkened at the edges. She distantly felt herself raise her arm to still Reppamon from attacking. She was focused on the very idea that she'd just been shot, and the man who'd done it.

"You," the man said. "Are raising your voice. You don't seem to have a grip on the situation. Half of the planet is missing. Your 'bunch of kids' is responsible. You will be treated like dangerous criminals, and we will use any means necessary to retrieve Koushiro Izumi."

Keiko glanced at Noriko. She was half-hoping that maybe her leader might be faking, plotting something and waiting for a good time to go into action. It wasn't likely. So she did the next best thing, and recalled the words Noriko had often told her with these situations in mind. _Know your enemies, know your friends, and think fast._ She took a deep breath. "Leave Noriko here. One hostage is as good as another right? Take me instead."

He chuckled. "Why would I take you and your digimon?"

"I'll leave Reppamon here." Behind, she heard her partner snarling, and she glared over her shoulder at him. "I **said** you will stay here. I'll use you for a rolling pin if you follow me."

Reppamon crouched as a sign of submission, but its tail sliced ferociously into the ground. Keiko smiled and shook her head. What a hopeless partner she had.

"Tell me your name," she demanded.

"Smith."

She gave him a cocky grin. "A nice, generic, totally fake name. Bastard."

'Smith' chuckled through his nostrils. "Step forward, girl."

Keiko obediently came forward, and Smith immediately stepped around her and put his gun to the side of her head. She sighed. "What kind of honor is this? You coward."

He shrugged. "Two hostages are better than one. Come along, or I will blow your brains out."

He wasn't lying, and Keiko knew it. Smith had Noriko for a hostage, and she was going to be compliant since she was out cold with a dislocated shoulder. If she wasn't similarly compliant, he wouldn't lose anything by killing her. But she refused to move, and faced the gun that had only minutes ago fired on her, and she let the nozzle rest right on her forehead. She had one chance that would buy her about three seconds, if that. She might die here, but like hell she was going to let him have Noriko without a fight.

"Reppamon," she said, loudly enough to be heard. "Your tail is ugly."

There was a moment of silence, and Reppamon's tail began to shake.

Reppamon tried to stand its ground, but its tail had been deeply insulted, and began to swing wildly at everything. Aidramon narrowly avoided being sliced in half, but overbalanced and took Hiroshi tumbling down the slope while Reppamon skidded closer and closer to Keiko and Smith.

Smith had tried his hardest remain focused on Keiko, but the new threat of a giant steel tail with a mind of its own grabbed his attention long enough for Keiko to slip sideways and squeeze Smith's hand rapidly. She managed to make him fire three shots harmlessly into the dirt before his spare hand came around and swatted her to the ground. She rose quickly, but the gun was already aimed at her.

Koushiro, who had been trying to wait because of what Noriko did for the sake of protecting him, couldn't stand by and watch anymore. He ran forward shouting _STOP! _at the top of his lungs.

Smith was distracted from Keiko again, as his real prey appeared. He honed the gun on Koushiro, but realized mid-aim that he couldn't shoot. Koushiro needed to be alive. Noriko remained genuinely unconscious, so he held her up by the back of her shirt, and pointed his gun at her.

Koushiro was still shouting, and trying his best to look like he'd do whatever Smith said when Aidramon zipped by with Hiroshi. He held out his arms to snatch Noriko. Her shirt tore from her body like paper, but she came with him.

Koushiro and Smith looked blankly at each other. Tentomon gave his only warning with a short burst of electricity that crawled over his shell and disappeared.

Smith turned his eyes on Keiko instead. She hadn't succeeded in calming her partner's tail down, and try as it might, the digimon couldn't calm it down either. They were the distracted ones this time. Keiko saw him at the last minute, and immediately stepped in front of her digimon and his demented tail.

"_WHY ARE THE COURAGEOUS ONES ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING STUPID_!"

Keiko looked to her right, at the source of the shouting. Smith had had enough distraction in the last two minutes, and remained focused on his target.

Miyako shot out of the bushes with all the grace of a bulldozer.

Smith fired.

Keiko felt Miyako hit her like a truck, felt them going down, felt a bullet whiz by her cheek, felt Miyako press something circular into her hand.

The bullet ricocheted harmlessly of off Reppamon's tail.

"Open fire!" Smith roared.

Aidramon landed. Noriko was safe. Keiko instinctively squeezed the object in her hand, and light overwhelmed the slope. Her digivice sang, and when she turned to look for her partner he was gone, replaced by a bright light and a digimon she had never seen before.

"Who…?"

He tossed his scarlet horn, engraved with a bright orange symbol of courage, and smiled at her. "Tyillinmon at your service, Keiko."

The light faded. She heard him say something, and he faded too. The mountain went absolutely silent save for a stream of popping noises, like someone cracking a whip in the distance. She kept her eye out for him for nearly a minute before he finally re-appeared.

"Done."

Keiko squinted, and turned around. The birds were starting to sing, and the dust hadn't settled where Smith had been standing just a second ago.

"Wha...? How?"

"Knowledge of the Swift," Tentomon buzzed. "Traditionally, its a speed based power, used to create clones of Tyilinmon. He seems to have used it to get rid of our guests. Though I'm curious. Where'd you take them?"

"Not far. Just to Okinawa."

"Holy crap," Miyako wheezed from the ground, where she had been trying to catch her breath. She managed to stand by leaning on Hiroshi. "All of them?!"

"Wouldn't do if I left any stragglers, would it?"

Keiko raised a brow at her partner. "You're very...different. I'm used to you being a fox-weasel thing with no control of his tail...So used to it that I based that entire plan, which went even better than I thought by the way, on your inability to control the crazy thing."

"You called my tail ugly," Tyilinmon said matter-of-factly. "It was very hurt."

_Ahem._

They turned. Noriko was standing behind one Aidramon's wings, gripping it to her meager chest with her working arm. She was as red as a cherry, and scowling so hard it must've hurt. She turned redder as they stood there gawking.

"I know I'm flat! Just get me a shirt!"


	14. Chapter 14

Hikari was not altogether sure what she was feeling looking up from the outer edges of Cerulean City at Mt. Moon. Technically, she and everyone else on the project had been there, done that, no problem when it came to other worlds. But this was different. There were no humans in the digital world. On this other Earth, with its other Kanto, there were people milling around in the late morning sun. Not just some strays there by the same mysterious means, but an entire thriving population of normal human beings co-existing with monsters that might or might not actually be a touch more frightening than the average digimon; human beings totally at peace with their reality, and unaware of hers.

Nobody born here had ever heard of digimon. Nobody, save Joey, knew the dangers of trying to catch digimon in pokéballs. It chilled her to think other people might be as unfortunate as him. On one hand, it seemed nearly karmic. Who went around turning wild animals into pets by beating the fight out of them and then forcing them to beat the fight out of other wild animals? On the other hand, if Joey was to be believed, being without one of your own in a world full of them was just asking for something bad to happen. Hikari could grasp that, though begrudgingly. There was a fundamental misunderstanding between the two philosophies, but that didn't mean it should be reconciled with killing.

"Are you sure it's ok to not stay on Route 4 and keep people like me out?"

Joey was mostly alright for his trouble. His arms were still wrapped up to allowed flayed and punctured flesh to recover, but thanks to Babamon's emergency treatment and the healing ability of a nearby Jyureimon, he was in little pain, and he was recovering quickly. His face, while covered by an eerily mouth shaped pattern of puckering early stage scars, was in no need of bandaging.

"Jyureimon and Babamon will spread the word. They're strong enough to not be taken down by trainers of your strength. I have to find my way home."

"Isn't that other world part of your own?"

"Kind of, but the gates home are all closed. We can only pass through the ones that were downloaded, but that's taken me here..." A stress headache began to pulse right above the bridge of her nose. "I have to get back before this spirals out of control… Go home. Your mother must be worried about you."

"Nah, I'm not even from this region. I've been a trainer since I was ten. I'm gonna go with you."

Tailmon jumped from a nearby tree, and stood between her partner and the trainer, pointing an accusatory claw. "You've already proven that you system is a natural danger to digimon. Why would we let you come with us?"

"Well, mostly because you can't stop me. And because you need someone who knows their way around."

Hikari ignored him. From what she had seen, the difference between a route and going off-road was pretty obvious. She could be any hick in the world, following the most obvious paths to get to new locations.

"And you need somebody who has money, unless you intend to eat a pidgey when you get hungry."

Now that, Hikari's stomach told her, was reasonable. She still had plenty of the water and a few of the protein bars that had sustained her on Kilimanjaro, but they were meant to run out soon. If time still made sense as it should in this world, she would have made it to Odaiba today… No, no use thinking about things the way they should be. "Where's the next closest town, and how long will it take to get there?"

Joey smirked. "Saffron City, and we'll be there in time for dinner." He descended the stairs leading to Route 5. "It's this way."

Tailmon watched him walk ahead, her tail swaying with agitation. "He's cheekier the V-mon..."

"Humans are like that when they're young. I'm going to trust him for now. It's not like he can stop us from getting home, seeing our only lead is...to just keep moving really. Maybe we'll run into one of the others." She peeked over her shoulder, and noted several interested eyes on Tailmon. "I think it's better if you stay close to me instead of hiding. There are laws against people stealing other people's pokémon. Let's get going."

Tailmon sighed, and perched on Hikari's shoulder. Together, they jogged after Joey.

* * *

While Hikari was on her way out of Cerulean City, Takeru had only just arrived. His initial night on Cerulean Cape had begun with a knock on the door of the sea cottage, where an old relative of someone he presumed was famous in this world was house-sitting. Patamon had been exhausted by that point, but all Takeru requested was food for his partner. In his rush, he had forgotten to bring more than a few snacks that had gotten them that far. The old man was kind enough to give them a meal, and even a set of beautiful stones engraved with elemental symbols that they could sell at a trainer market for some pocket money.

Of course, before leaving, he asked about Hikari. The old man hadn't seen her. He thanked him anyway, and found a place to camp for the night.

And then had come Punimon, startling them out of their wits at the crack of dawn. How had he gotten there? He had no idea, but he needed to find Noriko. Why wasn't he at Primary Village? He didn't know, but he needed to find Noriko. Did he have any idea he was not one, but two worlds removed from his partner, assuming she was still in their world? No, but he _really_ needed to find Noriko. That had been the shape of Takeru's morning. Getting the little dude to calm down, listening to what he knew, and being very firm with the trainers who either insisted he had to battle with them or tried to interrogate him about Patamon and Punimon.

By the time he got into town and sold two of the stones, he was already exhausted, but he leaned against a lamp post and considered his next move without resting.

"I'm still a little shocked that we were actually training people to defend the computer," Patamon said from his perch atop Takeru's hat. "But it's a good thing there's someone to protect it while we're away right?"

"Yeah, except we can't take Punimon back. As much as he needs to get back to Noriko, I still need to find Hikari."

Punimon nibbled anxiously on Takeru's sleeve. "But it won't take long right? How far away could she be?"

Takeru resisted the urge to run his fingers through his hair, lest he dislodge Patamon. He was trying to think directionally. South from Spain, into the lost part of Africa. To where Kilimanjaro should be. He looked up at Mt. Moon. That was the likeliest prospect, but the chances she'd stayed there were low. She'd never been a very timid girl, but she'd certainly stopped doubting herself. She wouldn't be going in circles, wondering if she should stay still or move, confused and unable to function. She'd be active, out searching for her friends. That meant direction was equal opportunity. Hell, she might be on the other side of the mountain.

"Takeru. We're not going to find anybody just standing here."

"Yeah." He took a deep breath, and looked around for some kind of landmark, or interesting sight; anything conspicuous enough that she might head straight for it.

"You ok?" a new voice asked.

He turned in the middle of some standard mediocre response, and was surprised to see a woman with fluffy orange hair in nothing but a jacket, a blue swimsuit, and white sandals. And she seemed perfectly at home about it.

"Y…yeah," he said, averting his eyes. "I was deciding which way I should go…"

She gave him a huge grin. "I thought you might be a tourist. Where are you trying to get to?"

"That's just it, it doesn't really matter. I'm looking for someone, but I don't know which way she might have gone. Have you seen her? Brunette, ponytail, probably really tan by now, only slightly shorter than me, probably came from that mountain?"

"Nothing like that, sorry. Though if she came from the mountain, you can limit your options. She's probably either in Saffron City or heading for Lavender Town."

Takeru took the gamble. "Which one is further east?"

"Lavender Town for sure. You'll take a sharp bend south, pass through the Rock Tunnel and it's right on the other side. It's a long way though. I suggest stopping at the pokémon center outside the tunnel for the night."

"Thanks!" He dashed off, thought better of it, and paused. "I'm Takeru. If she was still on the mountain for some reason and comes into town, please tell her where I'm going."

She gave him a thumbs up, and watched him dash off. With a laugh, she shook her head and headed back to her gym, pondering old adventures.

* * *

The urge to yawn came again, but Gabumon resisted it, and continued to watch the cross-sections of Mauville City from the safety of the trees. Yamato had already asked around for Iori, but to no effect. At the moment, he was trying to fish something edible from the lake hidden on the southeastern edge of town with similar success. So far, all he seemed to be catching was huge tadpoles that spat water. His stomach growled. If he got much hungrier, they would do.

_Splash_.

Gabumon picked up an ear, listening intently in the hopes that Yamato might call him to help with a fire. Instead he heard something to the tune of 'What the hell?', and looked worriedly back toward the lake.

"Yamato?"

"It's cool," his partner's voice assured him. "I… I think."

He couldn't resist that, and left his post. Something was definitely at the other end of Yamato's fishing line, but it wasn't really pulling. In fact it looked like it was getting closer. Gabumon stepped carefully down to the bank, but he froze almost instantly. From above, it looked smaller than it really was.

A lot smaller.

He was gearing up to tell Yamato to let go of the fishing pole and get away from the river bank when it surged forward, and leaped out of the water. It was a huge whale; taller than Yamato, and almost perfectly spherical, with an alarming feeling of heaviness as it sailed through the air toward the bank. Its baleen plates gave it the impression of having a gigantic grin on its face, but if it really was grinning, Gabumon didn't think it was funny. He rammed the full force of his body into it, and it squealed in surprise as it came to a confused crash landing a few feet shy of Yamato. For a moment it didn't move. Then it rolled quietly back into the lake.

Gabumon snorted.

The makeshift fishing rod slipped through Yamato's fingers and into the lake with the whale, and Yamato didn't mind at all. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Water sprayed them out of nowhere, crashing into them like a wave, and pushing them against the trees. It ended with a thump that shook the ground. The whale had come back, and was bouncing violently toward them on land. Stones and stumps were crushed beneath its weight, and they were next.

"Hey, Gabumon…think you can handle this?"

Gabumon's stomach growled pitifully in response.

They ran for their lives. While the bouncing was destructive, it wasn't the fastest thing in the world, and it was easy to gain some distance. That changed when it started to roll after them instead. Yamato looked over his shoulder at the encroaching fleshy boulder, and struggled to somehow run faster.

"This is not a ruin escape sequence!"

"Naw, you gotta think of it more like a baseball game is all! Now, home run slide, dagyaa!"

Yamato wasn't familiar enough with Ankylomon's voice to know it for what it was, but he certainly recognized the verbal tic and the implications of the cry of **TAIL HAMMER!** He grabbed Gabumon and slid to the ground as a giant tail tipped in a spiked ball swung through the air and collided with their pursuer in a spray that was five parts water and one part blood. This time when it fell into the lake, it did not resurface.

Iori ran over to them, breathing heavily. "Ishida-san! We saw you from the other side of the lake! Are you both ok?"

"All things considered," Yamato answered, checking his calves for scrapes. He was never the athletic one. This should have been Daisuke or Taichi, hell even Sora would've handled it better. "What was that thing?"

"Oh…a pokémon. I think it's called a wailmer. We caught that same one earlier. Apparently it likes to startle people just for fun."

"Well, I guess it's actually a good thing. If we hadn't disturbed the wildlife, we probably would've passed each other by entirely. We were thinking you'd pass through Mauville since it's supposed to be a major travel hub."

Iori started to laugh, and then tears showed up at the corner of his eyes. "We wouldn't have is the funny part. There was no way for me to hide Armadimon so I was going to avoid it if I could. I'd have missed you entirely Ishida-san, and I would have still been alone here…"

Iori was a stone-faced boy. He managed to avoid bawling his eyes out, but his experiences since last speaking to a member of the Project exploded out of him. Amphimon had told him not to, but he'd tried to drag at least one body back into this world, and he'd been unable to handle it. Most of them were kids his age, and he was being crushed by the idea that their mothers and fathers would never see them again, never even be able to find the body. The pokémon had mostly come with him, intelligent enough or well trained enough to understand that he could lead them home, but some of them had refused. They purposefully settled themselves into the sand, refusing to leave the corpses of their trainers. The strain of being lost had only amplified his feelings. He knew the way back to their area where Full Metal City blended into this world, but that wasn't his destination. He was adrift in a foreign world with only a bit of savvy and no money. Catching and killing and eating things because he would starve otherwise, and being entirely unsure when or even if he would find his friends had taken a toll.

It was a lot for Yamato to take in, but he listened sincerely. Iori was too old for the long, comforting older brother hugs Yamato had once given Takeru. Yamato would have only been awkward if he tried, so he gave him a short, gruff one instead. "This is probably going to get stranger before it gets better, Hida." He squeezed the boys shoulders. "Let's just focus on finding Daisuke, alright?"

Iori was a little surprised by the affection, but he respected the effort it must have taken his somewhat aloof elder. He wiped his eyes and nodded.


	15. Chapter 15

Miyako stirred from a miserable sleep she didn't remember falling into. How long had it been? She checked the clock. 7pm… She looked up at the wall, where they were trying to keep track of what was going on with a crude time line on a whiteboard. She walked over to it and drew a box for the would-be fourth day, just to be productive.

She looked to the left, at the third day. It felt like so much had happened, but the second day was a solid block of red letters of equal size to the third, and both were dwarfed by the first. She leaned her head against the board and stared at the white space, silently praying that tomorrow would be better than this. A hand on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts.

It was Koushiro. "Feeling better?"

"I don't know… When did I fall asleep?"

"While we were putting Noriko's arm back in place. You heard the sound and you just went out on us."

She blushed, and turned her eyes back to the white space. "Way to make an ass of yourself, Miyako. Fight monsters in middle school, a-ok, but faint because of medical sound effects."

Koushiro gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're being hard on yourself. You almost got shot, Inoue."

The memory came back sharply, and her heart stammered in her chest. Almost, indeed. The mother of all photo-finishes. She gave herself a sudden, panicky pat-down.

"Where's Amphimon's jewelry?"

He nodded toward the desk. It was all there, spread out into individual pieces. Tentomon was helping Noriko examine them. Somebody had gotten her a new shirt, and she was holding a cold pack to her chest to soothe the friction burns from being ripped out of her clothes. It should have been before they fixed her arm, but Miyako couldn't remember putting her in the ridiculously over-sized polo that doubtless belonged to one of the male members of the project. Hiroshi and Keiko were nowhere to be seen. Likely on the outer layers, awaiting more trouble. Miyako rubbed at her eyes, struggling to make her mind work properly.

"I have things to tell you," she mumbled groggily. "Things you need to know."

"What about Keiko and Hiroshi?"

"I'll tell them later. I need to do this now. I need to focus and get all of this right."

Koushiro ushered her to a seat at the desk, and took a seat opposite her, next to Noriko.

Miyako folded her hands, and took a deep breath. "Whatever attacked Amphimon and the machine... It wasn't a human but it wasn't a digimon either. Not like how Amphimon is both, but something that was actually neither. She said…it was more like her or Gennai, but dark. It's asleep now, but she can't withdraw, because it wants Alice's Door."

"Isn't that a program?" Noriko asked. "Can't we just move it or delete it?"

Koushiro shook his head. "People have run both businesses and scams around the recovery of deleted data. It's a lot easier than you think to get a hold of. As for moving it…it's safest where Amphimon can defend it. Moving it somewhere she can't go would be like handing it over."

"That's right. This means a few things. First, Amphimon cannot help us anymore. Whatever her original purpose here was, defending Alice's Door is what she's doing now. I think we got a big chunk of data right before she settled in, but that's not all of it. Even if it was, we still have to get the others back before anything else can happen. When the attacker sleeps, she might be able to help us, but we're going to have to ask, and we run the risk of distracting her. That means the best thing we can do to help her is keep things safe out here. If something happens to the computer, only one of two things can happen. She'll get locked in, and if this thing takes her seriously, she won't be able to run. Or, she'll get locked out and it'll be able to do whatever it wants with Alice's Door."

They were silent. It was obvious which Amphimon would choose if it came to that. Noriko gestured at Amphimon's jewelry. "What are we supposed to do with these?"

Miyako shrugged. "What I did earlier. If one of them reacts, we give it to the person it reacts to. It's like…having a second set of crests around I guess."

"Crests…" Koushiro got up, and took a red marker with him. He placed it on the board, but didn't write anything. In the end, he put the cap back on, and turned back to the confused girls. "Why would we need a second set of crests? Why would they send us that? Think about this with me. The sovereigns don't typically give us power proactively. The crests were made to help us defeat the Dark masters, and then to unseal the sovereigns. The digimentals and the D3s were made to get around the dark spire system. They don't just give us things before we need them."

"Maybe they're expecting this to be so bad that we need two sets?"

Koushiro shivered at such a suggestion, and Miyako was with him. If it turned out they needed that kind of firepower, they were up against something more powerful than they even dared to think about. Noriko might be in charge of the brigade that protected the base, but she only knew what kind of battles digimon could get into through hearsay. She believed that the big battles ended in the power of friendship and dreams like it had with BelialVamdemon, but Miyako and Koushiro both knew that was the exception, not the rule.

"Scary as that is, she might be right, Koushiro. But for now, let's just hope it's precautionary. We have to do what we can…and all we can do is wait for the others to get back, protect the computer, and try to figure out what this thing trying to get at Alice's Door is so we can go after it. In the mean time, I'll take first shift with Hiroshi. Noriko, go tell Keiko to get down here. Kudamon's earned a rest and so has she."

The young girl trotted off as fast as she could without disturbing her arm. Koushiro leaned against the table, beside Miyako.

"Are you sure you shouldn't go back to sleep?"

"I just woke up," she said with a not-quite-sunny grin. "I already made myself look silly by fainting in the first place. What kind of lazy person would I look like if I kept resting while you all have been awake?"

"The kind who almost got freaking shot," Koushiro answered seriously.

A frown creased Miyako's face. "And so did Keiko, and so did you, and Noriko got her arm dislocated. I can't fight, so I have to do what I can, and that means not sitting in here alone twiddling my thumbs while everyone else is fighting."

"…I'm sorry."

She sat her glasses down and rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes. It would have looked like an expression of exhaustion to anyone who hadn't worked with her for several years, but Koushiro had done just that. Behind her hands, she was fighting back a breakdown. It was hard to remember that she had only graduated highschool a year ago. When she was working, she had the looks and attitude of a lively, confident woman much older than she actually was. Not that he'd tell her that. She was enough like Mimi to take it the wrong way.

"I guess I can't get mad at you for being reckless…" He chuckled. "I hit a guy in the head and took his gun today. Didn't even think about what might have happened if he remained conscious."

She looked up from her hands. "You _what_?"

"I didn't want Tentomon to have to fight humans. So I decided to would do what I could. I couldn't have killed anybody, but I made the decision to use my own power to deal with what was happening. It was a pretty…harsh reality to face." He ruffled his hair, and immediately regretted it. He needed a shower. Miyako leaned back to avoid the light snow of dandruff, but smiled sympathetically. None of them had maintained the best of hygiene since this mess started. "Well, I was going to say something about all of us accepting that we're dealing with new situations and not pushing ourselves too hard, but now I'm willing to take a compromise. I'll get off your case if you head to the showers and come back when you're done so _I_ can use them."

Miyako smiled. This time, she didn't need to try so hard. "You've got a deal."

Koushiro took a seat after Miyako left, and leaned his forehead against the desk. He could feel Tentomon watching him curiously, but neither said anything, and after awhile he closed his eyes and focused.

_Come on…come on, I know you're out there somewhere…_

He felt his consciousness drop like a veil. His crest lit otherwise dark surroundings, and in response, that cosmic red eye opened before him. It looked strangely amused.

_You're pretty ballsy to come looking for me._

"I didn't…actually think it would work."

_It didn't. I gave a good bit of my power to Amphimon, and I can't just contact you at will anymore, so I gathered up my strength, and I've been waiting for you. The ball is starting to roll in a bad direction. I'm getting interference as a result of the sheer amount of reconfiguring going on. Amphimon was supposed to be—" _

"Wait, wait, wait. I came looking for you for a reason. Who are you? If you were one of the sovereigns, you'd have contacted us some other way, and I don't think the sovereigns can create digimon. How do I know I can trust you?"

The gigantic eye rolled, and it felt as though the body behind it was heaving a sigh. _Fine. Have it your way. I gave all the original digidestined the power to achieve higher evolution again. If I wasn't worthy of your trust, I certainly wouldn't have given you more power. Meanwhile, all you need to know is that I like your idea, so I'm supporting it. If you need to put a name to me, you can just call me Bene. As in, your benefactor._

"What about my friends? You showed them to me before. Can you do it again?"

_No. That was a vision only available because I was delivering crests. I gave half of that power to Amphimon to make her able to detect digivices, and without her half it won't extend into that world easily. I can only tell you that they are all safe._

Koushiro ran his fingers through his hair in a delicate mix of relief and frustration. At least his dreamworld self didn't have dandruff. "What about the thing attacking Amphimon? Do you know what it is? Is that why you sent Amphimon with the second set of crests?"

The eye narrowed severely_. The second set is there because there's a whole other world involved this time, and the power to reach higher digivolutions can only be spread so thin before it becomes useless. Her digicores are there in case things really get out of hand, and the way things are starting to go, you're gonna need them. I gave you the original set because I sensed the motions that precluded the attack on your machine, and I thought you might need them. I know where the attack is coming from, though not exactly what it is. But you must swear you won't go looking for it. If you open a gate, he'll definitely try to get out._

"I'll do anything! Please tell me!"

_Ugh, put that Japanese politeness away. I've got no reason to withhold it from you. Just promise that after this you'll stop asking questions so I can say what I came to say in the first place. Your mark is operating from the sea of broken dreams._

"Sea of…broken dreams?"

_You humans have a myth about a sea of all human experience don't you? _

"No! Well…maybe. I don't really know much about myths."

_Well, the sea of broken dreams is like that. It's the summation of despair, and so it begets despair. I believe you have taken to calling it the Dark—"_

Koushiro's eyes snapped open. "Ocean…"

Miyako yanked her hand back, surprised by his sudden awakening. "O…cean?"

He sat up, and looked around. "What happened? How long has it been?"

"An hour," Miyako answered warily. "Are you ok?"

Her hair was still wet, and she looked at least refreshed if not exactly relieved. The revelation had to be written all over his face, but for once in his life he had to deflect her curiosity without blustering like an idiot. Miyako had always been good at seeing through his cover-ups. If he was unsuccessful on the first try, she'd know something was up, and he'd have to tell her. She'd been to the Dark Ocean before, and he didn't want that on her mind. And for some reason, that made the perfect question flow out of him without a single stutter.

"Is there a sea of human experience in any of the myths or stories of this world?

She raised a brow. "Is that what you were dreaming about? Sounds more like Jung than Homer."

Koushiro's palm hit his forehead before she had even finished the sentence. Of course. Of course a digimon, even one apparently more powerful than the sovereigns, would confuse a psychological school of thought with a myth.

"Yeah," he giggled. "That's what I was dreaming about."

He excused himself, and got to the showers as quickly as possible. The feeling of hot water was extremely refreshing, but he found himself chewing his lip even as he lathered his hair. He wished he hadn't let his curiosity get the better of him... Amphimon's mysterious creator had very nearly revealed her purpose, which Koushiro had assumed was merely to help the stray data pass. But thinking about it, if she had so much of Bene's power that he was left weakened, she was terribly powerful. Powerful enough to fend off an attack from within the Dark Ocean without help, and without her digicores. Koushiro suspected that ideally, that power should have been nothing but a needless precaution.

Even more than failing to find out Amphimon's purpose, he scolded himself for not listening to Bene's initial words. He should have let every question he had go when he heard it, but he hadn't. He had stupidly let it get to him that information was his only means of helping his friends, and had stupidly asked questions that he thought mattered when he might have learned more by just listening. Bene had told him before that he would always give him the information he most needed, and Koushiro had missed out in the name of knowing where the enemy was coming from. Good, valid information, but there was nothing he could do with it or about it.

_Interference from reconfiguring… Her digicores are there in case things really get out of hand…you're gonna need them…_

Reconfiguring what?_ What the hell was happening?_

He clenched his teeth in frustration, and swore to listen quietly when he went to sleep that night. However, his dreams remained empty and dark right until he was awakened for his shift of the watch. Bene was probably going to need to gather up his power again before he could make contact. Koushiro could only hope that the information didn't come too late.


	16. Chapter 16

Ken rolled over and immediately regretted it. The sun was beaming town through the trees right in his eyes, blinding him into wakefulness. He sat up with an irritated grunt. The original digidestined might be used to spending days on end in another world roughing it, but he wasn't, and it was doing terrible things to his back. Since he had found his way into this world, he had descended a mountain, been attacked by several armored birds who thought Stingmon would make a good meal, fallen into a river with Wormmon to escape, spent a cold night in a cave with nothing to burn due to recent rain, and just last night he had found himself in the middle of some kind of spider migration. Only the spiders were Wormmon's size, and he couldn't quite tell their tops from their bottoms.

On the other hand, the people had been exceptionally friendly with him. The hikers on the mountain had known exactly where Cherrygrove was, and had he not bunked down for the night to avoid agitating the spiders, he would've made it last night.

A weight settled on his head as he was yawning. "Morning Wormmon."

"Errr…"

Wormmon was curled up beside him. At this point, Ken couldn't even find it in him to get flustered about what might be on his head. He looked up, and the eyes of a ladybug looked back down at him. He reached up to grab it and hopefully get a better look at it, but it quickly flew out of reach and disappeared into the canopy.

He stood up, inviting Wormmon into his arms. There were bird's nests everywhere, and the last thing he needed was for his partner to get snatched. "Some problems solve themselves, I guess?"

"At least it wasn't a spider this time."

"Agreed."

Less than twenty minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Cherrygrove City was a tiny, modest little town that reminded him of rural Hokkaido. Dirt roads, flowers, grass everywhere, and trees all around. He could even hear the waves from the tiny beach on the other side of town. It was an extremely welcome change from the mountains and hoards of spiders. An old man nodded cordially at him from the side of the road.

"You're a new face. Come from New Bark Town?"

"From the mountain, actually. Blackthorn City."

"Hoho! What brings you all the way down?"

"Actually I'm looking for someone, but I don't exactly know who. Has anyone…atypical been hanging around here?"

"Atypical, hm? Well…there was a boy with very red hair and his feraligatr…but he shows up every now and again. Has been since his pokémon was just a little totodile. Kind of a quiet type, but every so often there's a girl with a meganium with him, and she's just the sweetest thing. Professor Oak pops through here every now and again to go see Mr. Pokémon … Hmm. There's a girl what's camped out on the lake somewhere. Never seen her before and she's pretty energetic for a girl her age, but the children up on the next route all like her, and she's just a little green accordin' to the people at the pokémart."

"That sounds the most likely. Where's the lake?"

"Oh, round about that flower patch and through the trees, right behind the pokémon center."

"Thank you very much, sir." Ken bowed as deeply as his aching back would let him, and jogged out toward the trees.

_Poliwag may be seen around Blackthorn City…_

_Hoshi no negai wo… Kaze ni puraido…_

"I'm not the only one who hears that right?"

Wormmon nodded. "I hear it too."

_Once you see a Poliwag from above or below, you'll be... ... ..._

The voice, now obviously coming from a radio, decreased in volume until they couldn't hear it anymore. Someone had noticed their approach. Luckily for them, the head that poked around a tree to investigate was Palmon's.

"Ken? Ken! Wormmon! Mimi, we've been rescued!"

Mimi was entirely oblivious to their presence. Her head phones were in, several layers of her clothes were strung up on a branch along with her hat, and she was standing in the lake in rolled up leggings and a tank top scooping water into a dainty pink cup so she could brush her teeth. And she was singing to herself.

_"I wish, doushite koko ni iru no…Hm hm hm hm hm hmm hm…"_

Ken looked around, and saw that things were similarly cozy all around their little campsite. So cozy that he didn't know if 'rescue' was quite the right term. Palmon was half nestled into a plush sleeping bag with her vines on the volume buttons of a tiny device that was still quietly emitting the sounds of a radio talk show. A plastic bag hung on a low branch nearby, filled with fruit and vegetables and energy drinks and several pieces of letter-grade paper covered in cutesy patterns. There were signs of a fire, albeit a tiny one that had probably smoldered at best. She had even managed to hang a sizable mirror up with some string. It was all…very Mimi.

"I see you two made yourselves very comfortable."

"We didn't know how long we'd be here, so we bunked down with the assumption it might be awhile. We've been battling pretty much since we left Azalea, so we had plenty of funds on our pokegear."

"Poke… Wait, battling?"

"Yup. In this world, the animals are called Pokémon and people called Pokémon trainers have friendly battles with other trainers, and you can earn a bit of money if you win. Sometimes it was tough because they can carry around up to six different Pokémon and I'm just one digimon… and apparently once a Pokémon evolves, its permanent, so I couldn't just digivolve. It'd cause a ruckus if someone thought I could evolve backwards."

"But you can."

"Yes, but it just doesn't work that way here."

"Battling for fun... I don't know how much I like that concept."

Palmon nodded sympathetically. "It's not for entertainment. We've had a few encounters with the wild ones, and all I can think is that these humans would be in danger if they didn't have at least one pokémon to protect them. And there's stuff like flocks and swarms, so it's better to go one-on-one with another trainer than just waiting to get stronger on things that attack in the wild." She tilted her head and thought back to the kind of situations they got into on File Island. "It's the kind of thing that probably would've helped us early on, but we could never have pulled off. Food was a problem, so having enough energy to digivolve in case of emergency was very important. If we wore each other out sparring, it would have ended badly for us."

"I guess when you put it that way it does make sense. They've got to cope as best they can in a world where they're essentially living side by side with the equivalent of wild digimon." He thought of his first view of Cherrygrove, and the ladybug that had landed on his head and he couldn't resist a smile. The humans here had been born into their world with partners just waiting to be found. They were already living the digidestined dream, and it was pretty peaceful for a person who knew what they were doing… Which was probably why he'd had such a poor experience with this place.

"_Mirai no ame ga~ Hoho wo nuraseba~ Omioda—_AAH!"

Mimi had finally realized they were there. She pulled her headphones out of her ears and ran up with a huge, relieved smile on her face just to give him a big, bouncy hug. "Ken! How did you find us? What's going on? Is everyone ok? I'm so happy to see a familiar face!"

Ken smiled crookedly. He had never gotten used to Mimi. "We're going to have a lot to talk about. Let's pack up your things. It was a long way down here, but I think I can get us home before tomorrow morning if we fly."

It was the most exciting news Mimi had heard in days. She got her clothes back on, made sure all the trash was picked up, and turned her sleeping bag inside-out into a neat, cute and functional backpack to deposit all of her remaining supplies in. Again…very Mimi. Ken insisted that he stop to see the old man and thank him again. He was just happy to have been helpful, and wished them both happy travels.

As they walked out of Cherrygrove, hoping to get out of sight so they could digivolve as needed, Mimi asked which direction home was in.

"It'll be northwest. I came south then east, and a lot of it was walking because there are some vicious metal birds living on the mountain. We should be able to avoid them or at least fight them off if we're toge—GAH!"

A ladybug hit him right smack in the face, and scuttled up onto his head. The same one from earlier, he wagered. This time, it seemed intent on staying there. It didn't run when he grabbed for it, and allowed him to hold it. He tossed it, much as he would have tossed a regular ladybug, hoping it would fly away, but it landed beside Wormmon and nestled close to it. It looked…pitifully lonely.

Ken rubbed tiredly at his eyes. Why did this keep happening to him? He felt it land on his head again, but he didn't bother fighting it.

Mimi had her hand in her bag. "You uh…want some repellent for that?"

"No," Ken sighed, resigned. "No…Let's just go."

* * *

"Wait! Wait up! Why are we moving so fast? We didn't even finish looking everywhere in Saffron! Are you still mad?"

She wanted to say no. She wanted to say she already knew what she was in for because Joey had explained the gyms to her when she asked him how this world worked. She wanted to say she agreed to disagree with it, and that it wasn't bothering her. But the truth was that Hikari was horrified, and she wanted to get far, far away from Saffron City.

As predicted, she and Joey had arrived in the late evening the night prior. After dinner, most everything was shut down, and Joey had insisted they rest at the pokémon center for the night. Tailmon had prowled the streets for a good part of the night, but hadn't found any signs that their friends had been there. Despite this, Joey had insisted they spend the new day searching the major landmarks of Saffron city. After passing through Silph Co., and asking around the magnet train station all while surrounded by people strolling along with their pokémon at their side, Hikari's harsh opinion of the new world had slowly started to change. Then came the gyms.

She would have passed them by, but the dojo style of the first called her in. She could easily picture Iori making himself useful there while thinking on what he should do. However, the inside was empty save for a man sparring with a pokémon wearing boxing gloves. It wasn't really a gym. There was no badge to be had. The master was away, and this lone man was taking care of the building in his absence. Hikari and Joey sat in for awhile, and watched the sparring match. Neither the hitmonchan nor the human was pulling punches. They were sparring in the name of being strong together, and Hikari respected that. Outside the dojo, there were children getting into mischief with their pokémon, old men and women sharing the end of their life with their similarly elderly pokémon, and people with any number of dreams and purposes, and she didn't mind that. The catching process still got to her, but she thought she might be able to accept it if it allowed a person and a pokémon to pursue a common goal together, even if it was just to live a full life.

The match ended, and Hikari left with Joey. She felt curious enough to visit the second gym, but she deeply regretted it as soon as she entered.

Hikari was not entirely in the dark about her peculiarities. She had some kind of power that made her different, some kind of extrasensory perception or empathy that made her a magnet for the odd and occasionally the terrifying. But in her world, psychic abilities of any kind were mere suspicion and gossip, and few things stirred this latent ability.

This world had the Saffron City gym, a nest of psychic Pokémon and psychic people, and Hikari's usually low-key abilities erupted, filling her head with a miasma of feelings and imagery. There were battles going on in the gym. Pokémon fought at their trainer's orders until one side or the other couldn't even stand. For what? To get the badge? To enter the pokémon league? To be able to say they were the best? And the pokémon trusted their trainers. Regardless of the circumstances that brought them together, they believed in their trainers as much as Hikari and Tailmon believed in each other. They battled until they were bruised, beaten, and occasionally broken for a dream they never would have considered if they hadn't been captured. She had stormed out as soon as she found the strength.

"Damn it, wait! It couldn't have been that bad!"

She whirled on him with furious tears in her eyes, and slapped him right across the mouth. When he held his hand up to his lips like a startled child, she realized what she'd done, and immediately apologized.

Joey didn't quite know what to say. "I…guess it _was_ that bad."

Hikari wrapped her arms around herself, as through she were going to fly apart. "I'm…I've always had this weird power and it's gotten me in trouble plenty of times, but it's not exactly strong and what it can do is limited and a bit random. I've never lifted anything with my mind or…any of that cheesy stuff. But here you have actual people and pokémon who can do that, and when I walked in… it was like I expanded out of my own body and there were all these feelings and…and…"

"You don't have to—"

"No!" she snapped. "I do have to talk about it! I saw humans and pokémon fighting for a common goal, and for a moment it was beautiful! For just a moment, I saw the few who were there after endless weeks of training and traveling and near death experiences, to test their bond against other people who'd done the same. But then it went away and I saw the rest. I saw the teams where the pokémon do it all, and overwhelmingly, the trainers don't trust their pokémon half as much as the pokémon trust their trainers. Some of them were just…tossing out pokémon they knew could never win, just so they could buy time to heal a pokémon who could fight better. What kind of life is that for a living creature? Captured from somewhere, and doomed to spend the rest of their life as… as a punching bag?! All while believing that their trainer is worth their trust! How can they…?"

Hikari slumped to the ground sobbing, and Tailmon was right at her side. Some things simply did not change. Her partner was and would always be kindhearted, and easily wounded by the plight of the weak. She glared up at Joey.

"This is your fault."

He glared right back at her. "No, it isn't. Do you come from some kind of world where bad people don't exist? Yes, there are trainers who treat their pokémon like crap. They hurt them and use them and throw them away if they aren't useful. There are trainers who would jump in front of a hyper beam for their pokémon. Trainers are just like everybody else. Some of them are very good, some of them are very bad, and some of them are average, and liable get too excited and act like idiots."

"Like when you thought you might catch an undiscovered pokémon and ended up burning a village down, killing a digimon, and almost getting yourself killed because you got in over your head?"

He pressed his lips together. Tailmon reminded him of his mistake at every turn and never failed to make the bald truth sound deeply insulting, and his patience with her was thinning. "Okay, I deserved that, but yes, precisely like that. It doesn't mean I treat my pokémon like crap. It doesn't mean I don't trust them. Don't you know anyone who got a dumb idea stuck in their head and made an ass of themselves?"

Hikari nodded softly. "He put a lot of effort into apologizing…"

"Exactly. My apology is trying to help you find your buddies. But this isn't about me. I understand you're new here, but you can't break down or get pissed off every time you see somebody treating their pokémon badly or you'll never get home."

"You're right…" She wiped off her face and looked at Tailmon. "We need to find the others and find our way home fast, or the kind of people I saw in that gym are going to get into the digiworld."

Tailmon nodded, and the two of them struck off at a march just as fast paced as before. Joey scratched his head and ran after them. He really only meant she needed to stop getting so upset over every cruel thing she saw because it was time consuming…but this was just as good.

"Where does this path go anyway?" Hikari asked.

"To Celadon; the biggest city Kanto."


	17. Chapter 17

In the east, Takeru's opinion of this new world was turning out to be as jaded as Tailmon's.

His journey through the Rock Tunnel had been like a journey through some lower circle of hell. His flashlight barely lit the five feet in front of him, there had been trainers everywhere insisting that he should battle them, and he had tripped over several rock Pokémon, who then spent some time chasing him. And the bats. The goddamn bats screeching and swooping all over the place, trying to bite them and screaming in high pitches that made him wish he was deaf and made Patamon freak out on several occasions.

He had never been so happy to see sunlight as when he saw it streaming in from the exit. By that time, he, Patamon, and Punimon were all starving, his clothes were filthy, he was scraped in a dozen places, and his mood had gone so incredibly sour that the first trainer who got in his personal space yelping about a battle received a dark, exhausted glare that froze him on the spot. It was a short road to Lavender Town, and he went the rest of the way unmolested.

He didn't even glance at the scenery until he'd gone into the market, and purchased damn near everything he could buy with the money from selling the remaining two of the elemental stones. The trio gorged themselves, but in a rare turn of events, Takeru ate the most. He had forgotten the appetite a person could work up when they spent all their time on the move.

Finally sated, he leaned back against a tree and gazed up at the sky. The urge to rest seeped into his bones in a tantalizingly seductive manner, but he fought it off and got back on his feet. He wasn't going to find Hikari by sitting around. His first stop was the Pokémon center, where he realized through the scream of the head nurse that he looked a lot worse that he felt. At her insistence he had allowed her to coat his most obvious injuries in disinfectant and bandages. She looked like she wanted to do more, but he didn't really have the time, especially since she hadn't seen anyone matching Hikari's description. It was well past noon, and Lavender was a tiny little town. If he wasted time just sitting there in Pokémon center healing, things would definitely start closing up shop for the evening. The radio tower was the biggest thing in town…but he knew she wouldn't be there. That wasn't the kind of place she would hang around in. Neither was the circus-style tent on the outskirts. The rest of the buildings were all so modest, it was hard to tell which ones were homes and which actually had some kind of public purpose until he got close enough to read the signs.

"Volunteer house…?" Punimon read.

Patamon hummed on top of Takeru's head. "Can't hurt to try, can it?"

Takeru didn't think so. He grabbed the knob tentatively, unsure if he should knock, but the door swung open easily enough. Several Pokémon rushed to the door to investigate him, and he reflexively closed the door to keep them from escaping, but they kept coming. A part of him panicked, until he noted that nearly all of these creatures were wounded in some way. There were only five, not counting three heads shyly poking over the edges of a pen in the corner of the room, and they encompassed a spattering of old scars, missing ears and tails, and in the case of the purple rat trying to investigate the bag with the last of his food, broken fangs.

There was a hiss and a yelp from the center of the room. A man rolled out from behind the couch with fresh scratches on his cheek and a roll of unraveled, torn up bandages in his lap. A cat with insanely large whiskers dashed in the opposite direction, and curled up defensively beneath a desk.

"Are you…ok?"

He looked up, surprised to see another person, and quickly got off the floor. "Oh! Uh, yeah. This meowth still gets nervous around people and sometimes he just lashes out. Welcome to the Volunteer House. Are you here to volunteer?"

"Doing what exactly?"

"Well, all the pokémon you see here were abandoned by their trainers or orphaned. Mr. Fuji owns the house and he accepts live-in volunteers to help him take care of them." He looked down, at Punimon. "Is that an orphan?"

"More like he and his...trainer got separated. I'm working on getting him back to her."

The man smiled warmly, and gave him a nod of approval. Maybe it was because Takeru's day had been outrageously crappy day so far, but it made him feel at ease. He was tempted to pet some of them, but he had no idea what any of them were, so he kept it business and described Hikari.

"I haven't seen anyone like that, no. Is she the missing trainer?"

"Ah, no. She's not a trainer at all. Entirely different friend. She probably hasn't been here." He smiled fondly. "Even if she was desperate to get home, she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from coming to a place like this."

"You're both sweet kids, then. You've got your friends to look for, but I can tell you're the kind of person who would never abandon their pokémon. Your friend up top there looks as happy as they come to be where he is. Don't let me stall you, though. Ask Mr. Fuji about your girl. Around this time of day, he'll be in the House of Memories. It's the only place in town where there's no pavement. You can't miss it."

The man was right. On a lawn, tucked away in the southeast corner of town, nestled right beside a cliff was a house styled differently than the rest. He'd been wondering what a 'house of memories' might entail, but the building style made it very plain, and when he entered, there was that unmistakable atmosphere… Candle-warmed air, cold stone floors, and a lonely window that let in just enough light to see but kept it dark enough to grieve in peace. Mr. Fuji stood at the back, an old man in a plain sweater with a warm-hearted face, and Takeru was careful to walk up to him slowly and not create a disturbance for the other people there.

"Excuse me," he said is as low and soft a voice as he thought could still be heard. "I'm looking for a girl named Hikari. Medium height, tanned, probably seemed a bit lost, brown hair and kind of reddish-brown eyes?" Much as Takeru expected, the old man shook his head, but for once Takeru didn't just give his thanks and keep moving. "What is this place? I know it's called the House of Memories and I see these graves, but…"

Mr. Fuji nodded. "They're not human graves, no. They're the graves of Pokémon. Some of them were the beloved of families, and lived their lifespan and simply passed away. Others were orphans or abandoned pokémon found by the volunteer house who simply didn't survive."

Takeru's jaw tightened. "Are there also Pokémon who died in trainer battles here?"

"Yes, there are." He nodded at a grave near the entrance. A boy about Takeru's age was standing in front of a grave with a fierce looking bird Pokémon at his side. "He lost his raticate ages ago in a battle, back when the radio tower was the Pokémon Tower. When they redeveloped the building, he came all the way from Viridian City to see the grave moved safely, and he even donated generously to have this place built."

"He could have avoided all of that by not battling in the first place."

Mr. Fuji raised a brow. "In this world, there are places only the strong can go. The dream of all trainers is to reach these places with their beloved friends. Battles are the means they use to hone their skill."

"If they were so beloved, they wouldn't sacrifice them for such a selfish dream!"

The peace was broken. He apologized quickly and rushed for the door. When he finally came to a halt, he'd reached the very edge of the town, and found himself looking at an extensive bridge stretching out over an ocean he couldn't see the end of. Patamon leaned down over Takeru's face, frowning with worry.

"Takeru, are you alright?"

"No, I'm not. I don't get it. People who practice martial arts spar all the time, and professional athletes can get horribly injured...but that's a risk they take upon _themselves, _not something they do by proxy through people…partners they claim are their best friends."

"You've obviously never battled before."

The boy in the purple shirt was behind him. His arms were crossed and he was leaning in a very relaxed way. It would have been pretty arrogant body language if he was not so obviously pissed off. Takeru responded in kind.

"I've battled plenty."

"Then prove it. Battle me right now."

"No. I don't have anything to prove to you, and I've got better things to do."

The boy gritted his teeth, and closed in until they were eye to eye. "I lost that raticate in a battle against my rival, when I was younger, dumber, and reckless, and you just insulted the reason he pushed himself for me. I think you owe it to me to let me kick your ass."

Takeru's expression went into the dangerous realm of grim amusement. "So you admit his death was because you ordered him to it, and then say I should apologize for pointing it out by giving you the opportunity to defeat me in battle? Oh wait, you wouldn't actually be beating me. You'd be beating my partner, and thereby what...? Bruising my ego? Sorry, but all the battles I've been in have had a lot more at stake than my pride, and I don't intend to change that."

"Fine."

The hit went straight to Takeru's gut. Punimon dropped out of his arms and he doubled over, half wheezing and half trying not to puke on his shoes.

"In the future, you should try to see the big picture. A battle against another trainer is the safest way to get strong there is. Sure, it ends in prestige if you win enough, but there's a much more practical reason to have a team. I don't know where you're from or what you've been fighting for, and I don't care, but this is Kanto. Outside of a trainer battle, it's you and your Pokémon against the world and the world is usually out to get you. Here's hoping the girl you're looking for knows that better than you."

Takeru rushed forward, tackling the boy to the ground, and snatched his collar to keep him under control. The giant bird that accompanying him screeched and went at Takeru with its claws outstretched, but neither Patamon nor Punimon were inclined to sit back and watch that happen, and tackled it together. On the ground, the boy smirked.

"It's this easy outside a trainer battle. Something appears dangerous, they come to your aid, the fight begins, and sometimes the trainer is right in the center of it. Sometimes, nobody lives."

Takeru laughed. "That's your excuse? I can't count the times I've found myself in that situation! But you know what? The very first time a truly decisive battle came around, I was eight. I lost my partner. Not because I was a bad trainer. Not because I was reckless. Not because I was facing my freaking rival, but because it was our last stand against a monster who'd hurt and manipulated dozens of innocents trying to kill us. To that end, I _am_ sorry I disturbed your raticate's resting place. But don't expect me to pity you because in the end, we both killed a friend by deciding to fight. The only difference is what we were fighting for."

He let go, and retrieved Patamon, Punimon, and his hat. His hands were shaking. He hadn't been so ready to beat the hell out of someone since the incident with Ken, and he hated this feeling all the more for being aimed at a total stranger with a cause that was reasonable if not acceptable. He could all but feel lines forming under his eyes as the boy got on his bird's back. To Takeru's relief, they flew away without trying to get the last word in, and he was free to keep south on Silence Bridge.

Patamon was not as relieved. "Takeru… you don't really think that way about what happened, do you?"

"I try not to," he replied tiredly. "But it's technically true. I had other options. I could've run or hid. No one would have blamed me. I was eight, and you hadn't digivolved." He looked up and tried his best to smile. "You made me brave, so I could never have done it differently. It just...gets me when people take it for granted, you know?"

Patamon didn't answer.

* * *

It was quiet; uncomfortably quiet, and a bit boring by Miyako's standards. After the rush of the past three days she kept waiting for something to happen, but the box for the fourth day remained empty. Amphimon had made no progress with the stray data. Koushiro was typing irritably at one of the terminals. He had been frustrated all morning, so uncharacteristically so that she couldn't muster the courage to ask him what was wrong. Noriko was taking it easy and staying below the radar, and the others were still on watch.

Nothing on the board for today. Nothing to do but wait and answer messages from other digidestined. It was hard to imagine, with the excitement of the past few days, but she was honestly, genuinely, one hundred percent bo—

The lights flickered. A deep rumble stirred somewhere down the hall.

Koushiro's head snapped up from his terminal. "What the hell was that?"

* * *

As the lights flickered in the lab, something else flickered in Kanto. For most Pokémon, it came as a moment of queasy uncertainty, but soon passed and allowed them to resume their lives. For some, it was more. Zapdos was one such. The flicker had caused something to shift… Something was not as it should be. Anxious sparks shot from its feathers, and it soon grew too agitated to be still, and soared into the air. Black clouds quickly gathered around it, hiding its presence.

It soared in a wide arc, determined to find whatever had intruded on the peace.


	18. Chapter 18

Kiri awakened bright and early, as she had every day since she was a little girl. It was her routine to stretch languidly and enjoying her morning shower, but today she kicked off her sheets energetically. She washed and dressed hastily, and the rest of her morning was consumed with waiting for mid-day. A few days ago, a strange boy had come to Sootopolis City with an even stranger Pokémon. He didn't have a PokeNav, or a trainer card, or anything but a foreign ID to identify himself. He was lost, but in excellent spirits despite his circumstances, and all he wanted was a place to sleep and some food, for which he would gladly work. Kiri would have been ecstatic to have him at the Pokémart where she did cleaning and other little errands for pocket money, but he was young and athletic, so the divers had taken him.

The sun was only just shedding its light inside the inactive volcano when she completed her hasty restocking job, threw off her apron, and darted outside. The water would be still be a bit chilly, but visibility would be okay and the experienced divers were already out doing their exercises on the southern slope, where the water was deepest. The novices were dipping in closer to Kiri's home, and across the way, she could see Daisuke treading water while his Pokémon diligently swept the entrance to the Pokémon center.

Daisuke was completely unaware of Kiri, though he knew he would see her again. Swimming from the Pokémon Center to the Pokémart was a mandatory part of his daily workout according to his trainer. He didn't mind, particularly now that he understood there was no way to way across the two sides without knowing exactly which stairs to take. That had been…an adventure. The citizens were extremely friendly, but they also enjoyed a socially standard new-diver hazing that involved giving him false directions in the name of increasing his stamina. Swimming back was pretty much compulsory unless he wanted to sleep on the slopes. He just hoped he wasn't in Sootopolis long enough to get used to it. With a deep breath, he went under.

Above water, the city was quiet and slow-paced. He hadn't encountered a person yet who wasn't in excellent health. The elderly walked the seemingly endless stairways up and down the caldera without breaking a sweat, and all the children could swim as efficiently as the water pokémon the adults kept as partners in case of emergencies. It was possible to see anyone, not just the divers, stretching themselves for a good swim, and at any time, there might be a teenager on a cliff, diving into the water for fun.

Underneath the water was a different scenario all together. Schools of magikarp wheeled and turned around the idle tentacool dotting the deeper parts of the water. The wailmer pod that occasionally found their way in from outside were scattered throughout the lake, bouncing up onto shore, shooting bubbles at the novices in the hopes that they could start a game of chase, and generally being friendly pests. A small population of gyarados lived way down in the lake on the northwest side, too deep for Daisuke to go safely. Occasionally, he thought he saw something down there, but he hadn't had a clear glimpse yet, and according to the town, it was best when gyarados remained unseen.

Chinchou and lanturn lights suddenly lit up the depths, passing below him like a candlelight procession to where the divers had just entered. They found their partners, and together they went deep into the lake, until all Daisuke could make out were tiny shimmers gathering around the undersea cavern that led into and out of Sootopolis City. The diver's pokémon were their light and their defense while they searched for pearls, shards, and the occasional pile of star sand. Along with some soot and silt based goods, they formed the exports that kept the Sootopolis economy from stagnating.

_Speaking of soot-based goods._

Daisuke's job, as a new guy who was already athletic but not exactly diver material, was to keep an eye on the seaweed that grew on the sides of the crater, and shear it if it was too long. Not only was it important to do so that new swimmers didn't become entangled and drown in it, but it was important to gather it up for a popular beauty mask that appealed to the more affluent among the spattering of trainers, researchers, and other miscellaneous visitors to Sootopolis.

But that would come later. It was harder than it sounded and he hadn't had a proper breakfast just yet. He was working on a trail mix of raisins and crackers and oatmeal prescribed for all morning swimmers that wouldn't have kept him full for more than an hour even if he was just sweeping alongside V-mon. He resurfaced, and drifted lazily on his back, closing his eyes and moving just enough to propel him. He had come dangerously close to dozing off when his head bumped into a wall of mud. When he opened his eyes, Kiri was pouting down at him.

"You can't become a good swimmer with that kind of lazy backstroke."

He smiled sheepishly, and hauled himself up onto the shore. "I can't help it. I don't have the endurance to swim all the way across yet, and on top of that I'm starving."

"You're probably not used to the cold yet. Staying warm in the lake is what drains your body most, and it can make you hungry even if you're just treading water." She grinned. "You'll probably drown if you try to go back without eating."

"Is that really something to be saying with a grin?"

"Well, I got a ham sandwich from the market…" She twirled her hair around her fingers. "I suppose you can have it if you let me show you around."

Daisuke couldn't help but laugh. "You're pretty crafty for a ten year old, but there's nothing much to see here. The Pokémon center, the Pokémart, and the gym. There's nothing but houses outside that."

She puffed out her cheeks at him. "I'm twelve! And you haven't seen the Cave of Origin!"

"Alright, then. Show it to me."

She turned her back on him with a very pronounced 'hmph!', but peeked over her shoulder before Daisuke could start to worry that he may have seriously offended her.

"How old am I?"

He smiled crookedly, and held his hands up in surrender. "You're twelve."

All at once, her mood cleared up. She grabbed his hand and took off an energetic dash to the north side of the crater. Daisuke was rewarded with the sandwich when they arrived, but his bites were half-hearted. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about being introduced to the entrance, barring the archways that had been set up in front of it, and Kiri wasn't moving.

"Aren't we going in?"

"We can't. The Cave of Origin is a sacred place where all life begins. The last time someone was allowed in, it was because Team Aqua and Team Magma disturbed the legendary land and sea Pokémon." She turned to look out over the lake, toward the gym. "They fought right there…"

The sudden, startling depth of her gaze that told him this was a serious event in Sootopolis history. "You saw it happen?"

"Yeah, it wasn't very long ago. Three of four years, maybe… The sea pokémon, Kyogre would churn up the lake so it could ride the waves, and make it rain so hard that the whole caldera was covered in running water. The land pokémon, Groudon, would make pillars in the lake with lava so it could go after Kyogre, and split the clouds to let focused beams of sunlight through. The heat would get so bad that it felt like the volcano was waking up. You might die of heatstroke, or you might drown. Your house might be swept off the cliffs by rain and waves, or it might burn down. The shift between those two conditions, plus a lack of sleep for the couple days this happened… Some people got sick and never fully recovered, and some of them died."

"Didn't you evacuate?"

"Only the superstitious people who noticed the lake pokémon leaving and got out early. After Kyogre and Groudon showed up... We couldn't very well use the undersea path, since you have to have a certain amount of proficiency at diving or a really fast water Pokémon to make it through without running out of air. There are only four divers who have Pokémon that could have done it, and they kept busy making sure people weren't washed away or crushed by collapsing homes. Flying would have been the better option, but the rain made it impossible. That and… Well, see for yourself."

She gestured to the pits and dents and concave irregularities in the walls of the caldera. Daisuke had assumed they were natural, caused by some funky erosion. Stranger things had happened in his world, after all. "Some of them are from Kyogre's hydro pump, and some are from Groudon catching Kyogre by the tail and just throwing it as hard as it could. I've never seen pokémon battle so violently with each other."

Daisuke thought of the damage caused by digimon who ended up in the real world. "The place doesn't look like it was entirely reduced to rubble. Did somebody stop them?"

She smiled brightly. "No person stopped them. The league champion at the time, and the person who became the league champion later that year collaborated to find Rayquaza, the sky pokémon. It parted the clouds and came between Kyogre and Groudon, just like in the myths about how the regions were created, and they both left Sootopolis peacefully. Since then, there have been plans to make a big gate through the caldera, so that boats and such can get in and out, and so we can get out more easily."

"You guys sure are laid back. It's been four years and yet I wouldn't have guessed you had those kind of plans at all."

She scowled at him. "It's not that easy! There's structural stuff to consider! It might collapse if we just start digging anyplace we want. And it's not like we can get a giant drill in here!"

He grinned. "Maybe you could have a flock of bird pokémon fly one in?"

"Now you're just being silly." She looked up at the white clouds drifting by over the mouth of the caldera. A question that should have been obvious came to her. "How did you get here, Daisuke? V-mon can't fly, and you swim like a kid."

He froze. An instinctive forced smile plastered itself onto his face as tried to think of an appropriate answer. When it didn't come, he took a hint from the days where being a digidestined was a secret thing. He gobbled down the last half of the sandwich and made a run for it. Kiri might have more endurance than him, but she couldn't out-sprint him. He dived into the lake and swam for all he was worth.

Kiri paced at the bank, fuming and visibly weighing whether or not she should go after him fully clothed. Knowing that such a choice would certainly get her in trouble only made her angrier.

"I hope you get cramps!"

* * *

"Are we almost there, Ken?"

He glanced at the sun, trying to gauge how long they'd been flying. "I think so. It's hard to guess from this angle, but I'm pretty sure that little bit of snow on the mountain is where we're headed. Blackthorn is next to an ice cavern."

Mimi squinted curiously. It wasn't all that far away... "I wonder what Ice type pokémon are like…"

"Maybe like Frigimon?" Palmon suggested. "Or Mammothmon?"

Ken couldn't help but crack a smile. "You two have really gotten into this world, huh?"

Mimi beamed at him. "Well, yeah. It's so awesome and old-timey, and it's not even all that different from the real world. I think if our world was like this after we fix the bug, we could be proud of our work."

"Even the battling?"

After a few moments of nothing but wind in their ears, she answered. "When we first arrived in the digital world, a lot of our in-fighting was about waiting to be found and trying to play it safe or risking it to explore. I'll admit they were both total blockheads about it, but Taichi and Koushiro were as curious as they were eager to go home. Someday more people like them are going to purposely enter the digital world just to see what there is to see." She aimed a gentle smile at Palmon. "I'm content to stay in the real world and live just a bit more quietly, but if I was going to go exploring, I would do my best to make sure my partner was ready for any challenge, even if it meant battling other digidestined."

Ken rubbed at the back of his head. He wasn't sure why, but after hearing that, he felt a little embarrassed that he didn't know Mimi better. She was much sweeter at heart than he'd expected. "Now I get why you got the crest of sincerity... You're pretty deep for a girl in a pink cowboy hat."

"Pink is profound," she said sagely.

He made the mistake of glancing back at her as she stroked her chin with a crafty look in her eye. He shook so hard in attempt to not laugh outright that he nearly fell from Stingmon's back. When he calmed down again, it dawned on him that she'd called the problem a bug. He hadn't told her yet what it would be like on the other side. He didn't want to scare her, but there was no real way around it.

"Hey, Tachikawa…"

His new ladybug friend crawled down over his face before he could go any further. He took it down with one hand. "What's with this thing? Isn't it weird for a ladybug to just be hanging out with people even when we're going so far away from where it was born? Why does it keep clinging to me?"

"One of the kids I battled was really into bugs, and his behaved the same way. He said they just don't like being alone. You've got the bug digimon, so it probably thought you were its best bet."

"As if we weren't in enough…" A glint caught his eye, and his tongue was suddenly glued to the top of his mouth. "…trouble…"

Mimi glanced over his shoulder, and saw what had taken his words away. Metal birds. Zipping through distance like dragonflies.

"Think you could help out with Lilymon right about now?" Ken whispered.

"Flying pokémon have a type advantage over grass pokémon. And it's_ steel_ too. Steel barely takes damage as is. Plus bird pokémon sometimes form huge flocks when attacked. Heard it from a bug catcher. Well, that might just be spearow since they're apparently bad tempered, but the way you described these things doesn't make them sound much better!"

"What _didn't_ you learn these past few days?"

"How to deal with steel birds!"

Stingmon slowed down. "Should we land?"

"Hell no! A hot shower, a warm bed, and a facial cleanser are waiting for me back at home! I have repellent and we're gonna use it!"

Ken thought she might be joking again, but she was rummaging energetically through her bag. The birds spotted them, but by the time they were closing in, Mimi was dual-wielding cans of repellent.

"Bug spray rules apply!"

Stingmon looked over his shoulder in a panic. "Bug spray?"

Luckily, the stream of repellent didn't make it To Stingmon's head. It misted gently over Mimi, Palmon, and Ken's closed eyes and covered mouths, and down over their bodies. The birds came at them with their claws outstretched, and zipped away at the last second as though they'd narrowly avoided hitting a brick wall.

Ken opened his eyes to see them falling into the distance. They weren't trying to attack anymore, to which he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"I'm going to remember that if I have to come back. How much more do you have?"

"Just one more can actually."

The tone of her voice sent a chill down his spine. She was smiling brightly, but he suspected it wasn't because she was happy. "…Is that bad?"

She glanced back. The birds certainly had fallen into the distance, but they were still following them. "Repellent only works on weak pokémon. They might ignore it if they think they can take us down. It also wears off kind of fast since it's cheap."

"Mimi… How much time do we have…?"

She sat studiously still, with a smile too brilliant to be anything but an indication that this situation could go sour in the worst way if they failed. "Fly fast, Ken."


	19. Chapter 19

In eastern Kanto, it was difficult to know precisely what time it was. Dark clouds covered the sky from Fuchsia City to Lavender Town, rainless but foreboding. Sora didn't like it.

"I don't know if we should do this today, Piyomon…"

Her partner would hear none of it, and was already scattering the thin bones of a few snakes Sora had opted not to eat. "We should definitely fly today. The weather will definitely get worse, so I should get you as far possible before that."

"You promise we'll land if it gets bad?"

Piyomon grinned. "Cross my heart."

Moments later, Birdramon and Sora were wheeling on their way northeast, staying relatively low and playing things safe. In the distance, Birdramon could make out the end of the clouds.

"Look, Sora! If I fly fast enough, maybe we can beat the weather and get around the storm all together! Then we won't have to walk!"

Sora tried to muffle a giggle, and stroked her partner's warm feathers. "You're always like that. Don't push yourself too hard."

A good-natured chuckle answered her, and Sora settled in and kept her eyes on the sky. The sky had all the characteristics of a sudden summer storm, but something was off… The trees below were utterly still, disturbed only by a little breeze here and there. The wind passing over Sora's face didn't have that certain smell that preceded summer rain; the smell of humidity and wet dirt and maybe a bit of ozone. Her body didn't have that mildly chilly sensation that came of moisture in the air settling on skin. It might have been a perfectly sunny day if not for the clouds.

Birdramon came to a sudden halt, nearly tossing Sora into the sky. A bolt of lightning struck so close by that both of them were momentarily blinded.

"I think that's a good sign that we should land," Sora mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.

"There's something up there," Birdramon growled, glaring into the clouds.

Lightning came again, spraying out of the clouds in unnatural profusion; a show of power, rather than a direct attack. Sora skidded down her partner's back and took cover, kneeling inside the safe grasp of Birdramon's gigantic talons.

"Get away from it, Birdramon! We're not going to fight!"

Birdramon veered obediently, but turned to look back at the direction they should have been going. To her horror, a straight line of lightning bolts were dotting the landscape one after the other. She wheeled hard, nearly turning herself upside down in mid-air, and the bolt meant for her struck dangerously close, filling her vision with spectacular white bubbles even though she'd had the sense to close her eyes that time. All along the ground there was nothing she could use for cover. Forests were out of the question. She needed something bigger…like the city in the distance.

Below, Sora screamed.

A bird had come down out of the clouds; as big as Birdramon, and coated in yellow and black feathers that crawled with electricity. Its yellow crest stood out in every direction, as if held up by its own charge. Its beak was ridiculously narrow and ended in a point as sharp as a needle. It stared down at them, the sparks on its body building in size as its agitation grew. With a brutal cry, it dived. Birdramon turned her body out of its way, but it matched her movement, and she felt its beak slice her back.

She grunted, but refused to fall. It wheeled around to make a second pass at her, and she let out a ferocious battle cry. Her goal was definitely the city. She couldn't endanger Sora by fighting a bird that was literally shooting lightning, but it had chased them this far unprovoked, and would probably chase them all the way there. She was going to make it think twice.

"Birdramon!" Sora shouted in a panic. They were lining up with their attacker. "What are you doing?"

Birdramon pulled her talons protectively close to her body. She was covered in tiny, glittering flames, and her tail feathers were turning the color of charcoal. "Trust me, Sora!"

Their attacker pulled in its wings for extra speed, and dived at them again. Birdramon dipped at the last minute, and screeched victoriously.

"_Phoenix Rising!"_

Hot wind surged over Sora's skin, and stole the breath from her lungs. Birdramon lunged forward at speeds Sora hadn't thought possible for her partner, and even from below she felt the definitive thud as Birdramon's skull rammed into their attacker's neck. Sparks and fire danced over both creatures, and Sora was sure she was either going to roast or fry. It all lasted only seconds. Birdramon's speed boost pushed her forward, and they rocketed into the fresh, open air, leaving behind their stunned attacker and a giant cloud of obscuring gray smoke as they sailed off toward Saffron City.

* * *

"You're being melodramatic again," Joey sighed. "Don't you get tired of letting everything get to you?"

Hikari pulled her arm from over her eyes, and stared at him. Perhaps for the first time, she felt entirely justified even if she thought about it from his perspective. "Not all of us are okay with the idea of having living creatures be casino prizes. In my world, that is _illegal._"

She was, of course, referring to the game corner. She went in thinking it would help her calm down if she got to play something, and didn't quite get what she expected.

Joey had known it wasn't what she thought, but at this point he just wanted to see if he was dealing with a normal human being or some kind of freak sensitive to even the most minor of injustices. Mercifully, it hadn't bothered her at all that the place was a casino, and even her digimon looked on with nothing more than open curiosity. They both left without any kind of dramatic outrage, just mild disappointment that it wasn't the type of game corner they had expected. The problem had only occurred when they decided the prize list was worth investigating, just to see what they might be missing out on. He knew by the acidity of her tone that she was spiraling down again as soon as she asked him what a porygon was. The exchange over it was short, sharp, and only succeeded in exasperating him and pissing her off. It had led them to the top of the Celadon department store, where they were both trying to take a breather and cool it a bit.

"Every time I think this place might be kind of nice and I consider that maybe I'm letting my experiences get in the way of me understanding why everyone seems pretty happy with the things work the way they do here, something like that happens." She held her D3 up, staring at the empty screen. "It's not like I'm _trying_ to look away from the good things I see."

Joey rubbed at the back of his neck. "Will it make it better if I can give you a reasonable explanation for this particular incident?"

"Is there one that doesn't involve the explanation 'people are bastards'?"

"Yes and no. A crime syndicate used to own the place."

That got her attention. She sat up and stared at him warily, puzzled as to whether or not he was just jerking her chain. "Like the mafia?"

"The what?"

"Guns, murder, arson, bank robbery?"

"All of the above and more. They were called Team Rocket and they used pokémon to do horrible things, and did horrible things to pokémon. Where I came from, they were hacking off slowpoke tails and selling them, working on weird signals that made pokémon rampage and forced them to evolve, and for a few days they even took over the radio tower and did some broadcasting hoping they'd encourage their leader to come back. That's right; all that from some guy who wasn't even the founder." He sat down on a bench across from her. "They're disbanded now, but the Game Corner was something they owned, and it's very possible that it's still owned by a former Rocket who doesn't care about how it looks to someone like you."

He could see her working all of that information into her personal view of his world, for better or worse. Her digimon, a little less transparent about the things she'd seen, was perched on the railing looking out over the city, and he had no idea what her opinions were looking like.

"It sounds like a nice idea, by the way…"

Hikari looked up. "What?"

"Making it illegal to have pokémon as a casino prize. Especially rare ones."

She thought to correct him…but decided not to. She wasn't entirely sure how to describe a regular animal to a person who considered pokémon and digimon to be the status quo. That and it was calming to think she might finally be reaching common ground with him. Particular circumstances aside, their general relationship had grown eerily similar to Daisuke and Takeru's early relationship, and she'd been getting a little concerned that it was going to take a fistfight to clear things up. "Why rare ones in particular?"

"It attracts freaks. Collector types who don't really want the pokémon for any other reason than to say they have one. All of my Pokémon are the commonest of the common, except Charmander. I got him under some pretty extraordinary circumstances. That's what makes being a trainer so cool. You go out and get your first Pokémon, and that's a special experience on its own. Then you expand your team over time, going for the kinds you like most, and even if you're not the strongest or the best, you have a bunch of awesome stories about your adventures. I mean really, I'm not up there in battle ability, but I'm talking with a girl from another world! How cool is that?"

A smile warmed her expression. "It is pretty cool, I guess."

On the railing, Tailmon squinted into the distance. "Hikari!" She pointed out as Saffron City, where dark clouds had gathered there and nowhere else. "There's something flying around out there."

Hikari shared a glance with Joey, and they both rushed to Tailmon's side. Their eyesight was not quite as good as the cat digimon's but even they could see something big darting around above the city.

"It could be anything. Sometimes electrical storms can occur just by having too many pikachu in the same place. Maybe there's a trainer battle going on and it involves using Thunder or Rainy Day. Maybe the city is under attack."

"Then why are you grinning like that?"

He whipped out a pokéball marked with a feather sticker, and released his fearow into the sky. "Because it is my privilege as a trainer to go see what it is. Potentially getting in over your head is part of being a trainer too."

Tailmon glared. "You've already said you're not a particularly good battler. You're just rushing in like you did at the Koromon village!"

"That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm sorry things went the way they did, but it's not like I knew I wasn't in my world and still charged right in. This time we're in Kanto. I know what to expect."

Hikari started to panic as he hopped off the railing onto his partner's back. "Don't you have police or something you should leave that to?!"

"Technically, yes. But you know, the police weren't the ones who took Team Rocket down. Both times, a single trainer undid all their work and both of them went on to be champions of the Indigo League. Now, get on and let's go live up to their example. We can get there within the hour if we fly fast."

"What makes you think I'm going?"

He held out his hand. "Can a girl like you really sit up here on the roof thinking about a city in trouble and do nothing?"

She raised a brow and pinched the back of his hand, signaling Tailmon to hop onto fearow's back along with her. "Stop referring to me as 'a girl like you'. I'm older than you."

He grinned, even as he rubbed the back of his hand. "Yes ma'am."


	20. Chapter 20

For what felt like the thousandth time, Birdramon tucked in her wings and dipped below the rooftops of Saffron city. Above her, lightning lashed out from Zapdos' wings, only to be drawn to the rods dotting the tops of all the tallest buildings. No sooner did the attack pass than she had to climb laboriously back into the sky, or risk a fight in the city streets. She perched on one of the lower buildings while Zapdos futilely rained lightning on the town, screeching furiously, its prey so close and yet so out of reach.

Birdramon didn't have the energy to keep her eyes on it. The only thing keeping her from toppling over was knowing she still had Sora safely enclosed in her talons. Her breaths were deep, labored gasps, and a sense of dread was welling up in her. Soon, she wasn't going to be able to stay in this form, and Zapdos had the excellent eyesight one would expect of a large bird. It was intent on stalking and destroying them, and judging by its reaction to their persistent evasion, it would actively attack the town to flush them out if they hid.

Sora knew her partner was losing power, and ground her teeth. She would have happily ended this fight ages ago, when Zapdos caught up with them at the city limits, but Birdramon didn't have the power, and Sora's crest was unresponsive against her chest.

"Why won't you _work?_!"

The lightning stopped. Sora's eyes darted to the sky, but it was eerily quiet. Zapdos hovered high above, moving its wings rhythmically and staring down at them. Below, the asphalt audibly split. Chunks of it tore from the ground, and rose to gravitate around Zapdos. Sora's tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she realized what was about to happen.

"Run, Sora…"

She looked up to Birdramon. She was spent. No matter if she dodged or negated this attack, Birdramon would be gone after this. Sora shook her head, and climbed out of her safe spot, rushing up to her traditional perch on Birdramon's neck. "Not leaving you."

"But…"

"No buts." Her knuckles whitened as her fingers tightened around her partner's feathers. "I don't know why my crest won't work. Like this, I'm just a burden... but I love you, Birdramon. Whatever happens, I won't leave you."

Birdramon's eyes welled with tears, and she spread her wings and made ready to aim her flames as needed. Zapdos released the boulders from their orbit around its body. Something zipped right through its tail feathers, startling it so that the stones fired too low. Birdramon tried to correct for this, but her meteor wing didn't destroy them all. Her eyes darted from the boulders to the building she was perched on, to Sora. Her partner nodded grimly, and they dived over the side of the building to intercept the remaining boulders, intent on taking the impact.

_You're not as reckless as I thought you'd be,_ a voice said calmly in their minds. _Or maybe you are, in a gallant kind of way._

The boulders halted. From below, a burst of fire shot into the air to pulverize them. Birdramon wrapped her shrinking wings around Sora to protect her from the shower of pebbles and debris, but Sora was the one protecting Piyomon when they suddenly slowed down and landed gently in the waiting arms of a dark haired woman with glowing bracelets on her wrists.

"Who…?" Sora managed.

"Sabrina," the woman answered. "The gym leader of Saffron city, and a master of psychic Pokémon."

"Psychic…?" Sora remembered Zapdos and stared up at the sky. "That thing! It's—"

"Chasing you? I know, Sora. Calm down. We have this under control. You're safe."

Sora was about to ask who 'we' referred to, when a boy slightly younger than her landed on a huge brown bird, and hopped off.

"Sabrina," he greeted nonchalantly.

"Blue." She set her hands on her hips. "Glad you could come. This girl seems to have upset the legendary bird. It followed her from all the way out past Vermillion City."

He gave her a cursory once over, but his eyes paused on Piyomon. When Sora turned away, holding her partner defensively, he smirked.

"You know that blonde guy with the stupid hat don't you?" Sora looked surprised, and he laughed. "Whatever, just get out of here and let real trainers handle this."

Sora felt her feet lift off the ground, and instinctively placed a hand over the hem of her skirt. With the toss of a pokéball, Sabrina's prized Alakazam was beside her. She waved to Blue. "I'm going to have her put on the train to Johto. You're enough of a 'real trainer' to handle this. Ta-ta."

They vanished in a dull flash, and Blue looked up at Zapdos with a smirk. His Pidgeot stood at the ready by his side, and his Arcanine's mane was bristling. "She's got a strange sense of humor these days."

Sora, on the other side of town and thoroughly disoriented by what had just happened, collapsed to the ground when Sabrina sat her back on her feet. "Wh..Wha…"

"Teleportation," Sabrina explained, patting her Alakazam. "Never stops being useful. Now come on, or I'll carry you in upside down this time."

Sora got up, and held the edges of her skirt down defensively. Considering the surrealism of the past hour—the last ten minutes in particular—the train station was strangely quiet. Maybe it was just the big city mindset, but nobody was particularly impressed that a gigantic bird was spewing lightning bolts. Then again, their 'gym leader', who seemed to be some kind of celebrity or authority in town, was out and about in a navel-revealing pink spaghetti top, climbing the stairs with her hands in her pockets like she hadn't a care in the world, and it seemed like she had the tiniest of confident smiles for anyone who greeted her. It was hard to freak out when the person in charge had such a reassuring aura around her.

The guard at the turnstile straightened up when he saw Sabrina coming, and she nodded at him. "This is an emergency. Would you mind letting Sora on the train?"

He frowned. "Now, Ms. Sabrina... You know I can't."

She flicked her pinky, and he bent toward her against his will. "Let me try again. This young lady is not from here. She's lost and she's being stalked by a legendary bird who decided it wanted her and her partner dead for reasons unknown. She's been trying to win a battle of attrition with it for the past hour in the name of not messing up our city, and if we don't get her far, far away, it's probably going to start tearing up the place looking for her." She let him go. "So do us a favor, and put her on the damned train, and get her out of here. _Now_**.**"

He glanced at Sora, and quickly began fumbling with his keys to unlock the turnstile. Sabrina gestured for Sora to go through.

"You'll be on your way Johto once you're on the train. Takes about 90 minutes, but there are no stops and it's a magnet train, so you'll be hundreds of miles away just like that."

"Thank you…I suppose." Sora frowned down at her partner.

Sabrina turned her eyes away, and rubbed at her shoulder. "Sorry about that, by the way. It's my fault Piyomon was hurt. Garudamon didn't seem as nimble as Birdramon, and I didn't want her getting tossed around and messing up the city."

Sora glared. "You…What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything to her. I just suppressed your crest's power so you couldn't make her evolve again. Don't worry; it'll wear off as soon as you're out of range of me. Here." She tossed Sora a tiny bag that, upon inspection, had three pieces of strangely shaped fruit in them. "Feed them to her slowly over the course of train ride, and she should be up and about once you hit Johto." Sabrina glanced at the door, and ushered Sora through the turnstile. "Time for you to leave. A friend of yours is getting close to the city limits, and unfortunately, he's already using his crest. That dinosaur is much too big, so I'm going to have to go deal with him."

Sora whipped around. "Dinosaur? That's Taichi!" She came back through the turnstile, and tried to force her way past Sabrina. "Get out of my way! I'm not going to let you hurt him!"

"Who said anything about hurting anybody?" She lifted Sora off her feet and turned her upside down, as she'd warned. Sora shrieked, and there was something that dimly sounded like a violent cough from the guard, but Sabrina paid no mind to him. "Blue and pink stripes...to match your partner? What adorable lucky panties." She waved Sora off, and she landed with a dim thump at the top of the stairs leading to the platform. "I promise I'll send him to Johto to find you. Wait at the platform for him to show up. Oh, and don't try to come back to this side when I'm gone. I'll know, and I'll devise a suitable punishment. Ciao."

She disappeared with her Alakazam in the same small flash that got them there. Sora caught the guard looking at her, and clutched her skirt as she obediently went downstairs to the platform. The train was already there, awaiting her with open doors. As soon as she stepped in, they closed, and Sora was alone in the car with Piyomon. The train quickly gained speed, and hurtled away from Saffron City station.


	21. Chapter 21

"Salutations."

Taichi fell back, startled by the woman who appeared out of nowhere on his partner's helmet with a bizarrely shaped creature holding a spoon.

Sabrina pointed down at his partner. "I'm going to have to ask you not to bring your bionic buddy into Saffron City. Please land and bring him down to child form."

Taichi slowly reclaimed his grip on MetalGreymon's hair. "I don't know who you are—"

"Sabrina. I'm the gym leader of the city you're about to enter; master of psychic types."

"Sorry, Sabrina, but I've got a friend to find, and I saw that bird chasing her. She's somewhere in that city, and I can't afford to slow down."

Sabrina sighed. Alakazam raised his spoons, and Metalgreymon ground to a halt. "Nobody ever wants to take my advice even when I say I'm a psychic... How about it Metalgreymon? I have no ill will against you, but you're huge, and I consider it my responsibility to keep Saffron city safe."

Metalgreymon looked from Sabrina to Taichi to the city and back to Sabrina. "Sora is very important to us."

Sabrina smiled. "I am aware, and willing to teleport you into town if you will assume the form called Agumon."

That sealed the deal for Metalgreymon, and soon he and Taichi were falling through the air. They had barely the time to grab each other's hands before a white flash filled their vision and they suddenly hit asphalt on their feet.

Taichi whipped around to look for Sabrina, but she was already gone, off on some other mission.

"How did she know me?" Agumon asked.

"Maybe she wasn't just messing around when she mentioned psychics," Taichi answered distractedly. He was less concerned with Sabrina and more worried about where Sora was. Birdramon was nowhere to be found.

"Get out of the way!"

A boy rammed into Taichi's side, tackling him off the street and out of the way of an errant bolt of lightning. He got up quickly, looked to the sky, and looked back down at Taichi, but more importantly, at Agumon.

"Great," he hissed. "Just when I though there were only two of you."

"Two…" Taichi got to his feet, and caught the boy by his sleeve. "Who did you see?"

"Are you an idiot? I'm kind of busy." He hiked a thumb toward Zapdos and his Arcanine.

"Dammit, I can help, just tell me!"

"You can't help, actually. As I understand it, Sabrina intervened because you would probably cause a lot of collateral damage. We'd like to avoid that." Blue smirked. "But when I'm done here, how about we have a battle outside the city? If you win, I'll even tell you where the chick went."

Taichi answered without a second thought. "Deal."

The answer caught him off guard. He had been expecting Taichi to respond with the same ignorantly righteous anger that Takeru had. Instead, Taichi stood there with his arms crossed...waiting.

_So not all of you are on the same page..._ Blue grinned up at Zapdos. _Interesting!_

Sabrina and Alakazam materialized beside Blue. She glanced back at Taichi, waiting with a patient fire in his eyes for Blue and his Arcanine to finish with Zapdos.

"Blue," she sighed. "Do you really need to egg people on like that? You have such a bad personality…"

"Says the poster girl for the emotionless."

"I have emotions. I was very pleased that Sora's battle style wasn't as rough as what I saw in her past, and I was very excited when I saw her panties. I didn't think girls my age wore such cute things. Now I don't feel childish for wanting those skitty panties they sell at the Celadon Department Store." Behind her, a familiar rough coughing noise erupted from Taichi. "Why does everyone keep making that sound? Is there a bug going around?"

Blue shook his head. "Focus, Sabrina. Huge bird. Shooting rocks and lightning at us. Kind of powerful."

Sabrina shifted her bracelet to check a tiny watch she kept on hand for just these situations. "I am always focused." _Right, Alakazam?_

The pokémon chuckled.

_Right alongside me, then. In 3…2…1…_

In perfect harmony, Sabrina lifted her hands and Alakazam lifted his spoons. The air around them vibrated and distorted, and Zapdos ground to a stop in midair. Unlike Metalgreymon, it actively fought their influence. Neither of them would have been able to keep it still by their own power, but together they had the raw mental force to wrap its wings around its own body like a cocoon. Zapdos screeched in agony and discharged lightning in wild, erratic bursts, but they were able to suppress most of that too. They were rewarded for their perseverance by a united cry from above.

"_Sanctuary Bind!"_

Nefertimon and Pegasmon flew all around the screaming bird, binding it tightly, and quickly darting away. Sabrina and Alakazam lowered it down to street level safely entrapped once within its own wings, again within the golden ropes, and once more in the grip of their power.

_Okay, Alakazam. Keep it steady._

"Blue," Sabrina gritted. "Now would be a really good time for some hypnosis."

Blue smirked, and released his Exeggutor from its pokéball to put Zapdos to sleep. "I find it kind of funny that the master of psychics doesn't have any pokémon that learn what can arguably be called the most basic of the psychic moves."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. The force of Zapdos' power pushing back against her and Alakazam's powers lessened, and she slowly released the pressure of its being to Alakazam. _You know what to do._

Alakazam nodded, and placed a hand against the huge bird's head. In a dim flash, both of them vanished.

Nefertimon landed close to Taichi. Hikari vaulted from her partner's back, and dashed to reunite with her brother. Takeru landed Pegasmon between the pokémon trainers and his friends. His intention had been to thank Sabrina, but he ended up glaring at Blue.

Sabrina sighed. "Really, Blue. Such a bad personality. Thank you for your help, Takeru."

He nodded stiffly. "Thank you for leading me to Hikari."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Zapdos did that. You wouldn't have missed her regardless of whether I interfered or not."

"Hold it," Blue interrupted. "If that's the girl _you_ were looking for, and that guy is looking for the girl with the bird..."

Hikari came over, with Taichi, Agumon, and Tailmon at her side. "You saw Sora?"

"I did. I promised your friend I'd even tell him where she went if he won a battle against me."

Taichi stepped forward, both he and Agumon's eyes set on victory. They were ready to take on whatever Blue might have for them...so they were surprised when he pulled out a wallet and tossed a rail pass at them.

"North side of town. Sabrina put her on the train to Johto. That'll get you there."

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Blue..."

"Don't start. You know I never use the thing. When I have somewhere to go, I fly or I ride my Arcanine."

Taichi was looking from the card to Blue and back with his mouth half open, but it was Takeru who posed the question. "Why are you giving it to us so easily?"

Blue crossed his arms. "Personal reasons. And who said anything about 'us'? Pass is good for one person only. He's going to Johto to find his girl. What you and this other girl do is all on you."

Taichi's eyes fell. "Sora isn't my girl, just my best friend. This girl, however, is my little sister Hikari, and I'd be grateful if you could get her to Johto as well."

Blue looked over at Sabrina, but Sabrina shrugged. He sighed. "Your best bet will probably be to go south to Vermillion and try the S.S. Aqua. It is…Monday. Explains a lot. Anyway, boat sails on Wednesday. Unless you wanna stick around til Sunday, I suggest you get a ticket immediately."

Takeru's shoulders sagged. For the first time in years, he was at a loss for what he should do. He was the only one of the four of them who knew anything about what had happened. "Taichi, I could have Hikari home by then. I didn't land in this place like you and Sora. I came here from Spain."

"This place is accessible from...?" The siblings instinctively grabbed for each others hands. "What's going on, Takeru?"

He glanced over his shoulder at Blue and Sabrina, and leaned closer to his friends. "A part of our world-a _big_ part-went missing. The continents you were all on were replaced by this world, separated by some kind of…red code and a field that keeps non-digidestined from crossing."

"Who else went missing? Have you already found others?"

Takeru shook his head. "According to the places that are on the wrong side of the wall… You two, Sora, Jyou, Iori, Daisuke, and Mimi are considered missing. Yamato and Ken are also in this world somewhere, searching for the others. I got here three days ago. I have no idea what may have happened since then. What I do know is that Miyako and Koushiro are safe with the computer, and some new digimon named Amphimon is helping them fix this."

Taichi rubbed pensively at his chin. "How do we get home?"

"Fly north. Eventually, you will pass through some sort of barrier, where the binary wall is in our world. When you pass through that, you'll be somewhere in Europe, I'd guess. Follow the wall east. It goes right around most of Japan…except for Hokkaido and the Kuril Isles, where Jyou was."

"Alright. I'll take those directions with Sora. Get my sister out of here."

Hikari shook her head violently. "I'm not leaving. You go home Taichi. You fly straight to Koushiro, and you tell him that pokémon trainers can get into the digital world."

Takeru and Taichi's faces both went blank. A shadow passed over them, and they reflexively tensed, but it was only Joey's fearow. He landed next to Hikari and tucked his pokémon away.

"What happened to you? Ah! Are these more digimon? Are these people from the other world too?"

Hikari introduced them. "Takeru, Taichi, this is Joey." She carefully placed herself between the two of them and the boy, and held out her arms defensively. She licked her suddenly dry lips. "He got into the digital world and ended up burning down the Koromon village."

Taichi's face darkened, and he suddenly towered over her in a way he hadn't since she was very young. "Move, Hikari."

"No. You don't understand what happened."

Blue shouldered his way into their huddle. "Sorry, what did I just hear?"

Joey's eyes lit up. "Ah! You're one of the former champions of the Indigo League! You're Blue!"

Blue ignored him entirely, and looked down at Hikari. "He burned down what?"

She hesitated to answer. Tailmon hopped up onto Takeru's shoulder and answered for her. "It was an accident. In this world, you capture your partners. In the digital world, your partner is born only for you. Joey crossed the divide without realizing it and believed he had found a new species of pokémon. He attacked them with a Charmander's flame. Things got out of control, he got hurt, and the village burned down. He was just doing...what a trainer does, I guess."

"What a trainer does, huh?"

Hikari had scarcely the time to get out of the way of Blue's punch. It scored right across Joey's jaw, and sent the boy sprawling to the pavement. Blue's arrogant smirk was absent. His eyes were cold and he was audibly grinding his teeth. He caught Takeru and Patamon's stunned expressions.

"What," he growled. "Did you think we don't punish our own?" He looked at Hikari. " Did he kill any of them?"

Hikari reclaimed her place between Joey and the others. "He didn't! Not intentionally."

Takeru, eerily calm given the situation, stepped closer to Hikari. His voice was steady, gentle, and so quiet that it sent a chill up her spine. "We're listening, Hikari. Go ahead and explain."

"He got one in a pokéball before I showed up. The Koromon were the most terrified of that. It turns creatures into data or something, but I don't think it knows how to reconfigure digimon. The Koromon that came out…" Her skin broke out in goosebumps. The fire. The blood. The senseless milky eyes. Not even hatred in them. Nothing in them at all. "It was all wrong! It barely even looked like a Koromon! They said...it made him a virus type. But virus types are generally evil, this thing… It just attacked because he was there, and all those scars… His arms and his face. It did that! He was almost dead when I… My digivice and Tailmon's ring…"

Taichi's fists loosened, and he held his trembling sister tightly. "It's ok. We get it."

Blue snorted. "I'm surprised you're not as bad off as this guy." He nodded at Takeru. "If all you know of trainers is this, it's not a wonder. That's trash on the level of Team Rocket."

Sabrina slapped the back of Blue's head. "Do not badmouth him. You were a worse brat when you were his age." She walked by him, and helped Joey up. She didn't spare the slap for him either, but she didn't lecture him. She could see that Tailmon had drilled him about it enough in the past few days. She addressed the digidestined instead. "You should hurry. There are far worse people than this boy that might get into this other world, and even the best of us have no way of knowing that an attempt to catch a digimon could cost lives."

Taichi squeezed Hikari's hand. She tried to look exasperated, but it didn't work. "I'm alright, nii-chan." She squeezed back. "I'll have Takeru, and I even have Joey…kind of. Sora is all alone."

"Alright…" He fumbled with his pocket, and handed her the heart scale he'd received. "I got that from a nurse on Cinnabar. She said you can show it to any nurse at any pokémon center and they'll help you. If we get home before you…I'll come back for you, I promise."

"Don't," she said sternly. "You'll waste time. Help Koushiro fix this, immediately. I'll go to the Johto region with Takeru, and we'll keep our eye out for the others, and for anymore trainers trying to catch digimon." She rubbed fretfully at the hairs on her nape. "I don't want them running around. Tailmon's holy ring… I don't know. Maybe it purifies them, so they'll be reborn right. I…"

"Shh. I get it. But don't be here more than a week. We will definitely fix this by then."

"Before you go," Takeru interjected, holding up Punimon. "This is Kawada Noriko's partner."

Taichi's eyes widened. "Noriko-chan's? Why do you have him?"

"Long story. But he says things in the real world have gotten a bit...political. Koushiro, and likely anyone involved with the project are considered criminal right now." He shifted uncomfortably. "And you should know this for when you get back… Shortly after all this happened, they started… The best way I can describe it is an Inquisition. They were questioning random chosen children and doing short term arrests. Miyako thought it might get serious, so she sent messages to everyone who could receive them to hide. In the case of you, Hikari, myself, and everyone else directly involved with the project, this message was also sent to our immediate families."

The siblings stood there with blank faces, unsure of what to think or feel. It was terrible, but that was both too obvious and not descriptive enough for the thought that someone might arrest their parents, who had nothing to do with the project.

"If you go to Shimoshima… Don't take Sora. Hide her somewhere. Even the digiworld might be safer right now."

Taichi nodded numbly. "Thanks for the warning."

He gave his sister a hug, holding her as tightly as he could for just a moment. With this new news on his mind…he was relieved that she wasn't going straight home.

"Stay safe," he whispered, and ran off with Agumon to the north side of Saffron to catch the next train out.

Sabrina ushered Joey to Blue."Take him a second. I need to talk to these…" She glanced down at the little red glob in Takeru's arms. "…four." She lifted it up and over, resting it on top of Joey's head.

Takeru scowled. "He's an infant. Is there something you honestly can't tell an infant?"

"The infant has no doubts about this world. You four do. Especially you, Takeru…but I want to start with you." She looked at Hikari. "You were in my gym yesterday."

Hikari closed her eyes tiredly. "Please don't say you want to awaken my latent abilities or something…"

"Don't be rude. You were never meant to be the kind of psychic I am. You have an extremely powerful empathy that couples with your compassion and reaches out to everything… a ray of light in any and all darkness, even darkness better left undisturbed. The things here have hurt you because you, in fact, see this world as a living vision of your ideal world, but with impurities. Please understand that pokémon are not digimon. As long as you see them in the exact same light, you will continue to feel great conflict about this place.

"Tailmon, that goes doubly for you. Your path, if you continue to feel so much contempt for this world and its trainers, will grow dark soon, and in a far worse way than you can imagine. Do not hate it all because Hikari is in pain. Pain is a part of life.

Takeru…"

He met her eyes unflinchingly, daring her to say the wrong words to him. She sighed.

"I would never tell you to forget the feeling of losing Patamon. It is important, and it makes up a small, but intense part of you. You too, should realize that this world is not like the ones you know. Today, a rare, powerful bird whose movement alone draws the storm clouds chased your friend here from nearly fifty miles away, and spent an hour trying to kill her. Even I cannot glean an answer as to why that goes beyond something about her just rubbing it the wrong way. That's the kind of world this is. If you startled an electric type and they paralyzed you right outside this city, there's a very real chance that the murkrow and the rattata anything else that was hungry would pick the flesh off you while you were still alive. People need this system to protect themselves and their loved ones."

"What about me…?" Patamon asked timidly.

"You are here because you're the least biased one. It will be your responsibility to help Takeru and Tailmon reconcile with this world. You know exactly what it's like to fight to the bitter end for your partner, and you know what it's like to want to be strong to protect them. You kind of wish there had been a system like ours. Maybe then you would have been stronger, and Takeru wouldn't carry that lingering anger that resulted from your death."

Takeru was unprepared to hear that, just as Patamon was unprepared for it to be revealed. Even Hikari and Tailmon were rendered wide-eyed and speechless. Patamon's eyes welled up, and he darted from his perch on Takeru's head. Takeru stood there limply, his face bleary with remorse, until Sabrina shoved him after his partner.

Hikari whistled for Joey, and signaled that they were going after them. The boy quickly darted away from Blue with Punimon, but Sabrina caught Hikari by her sleeve.

_Takeru and Patamon will slowly come to terms with this place due to Patamon's feelings. You have struggled to see the good in this place through the constant clouds of bad, and you are going to need it if you partner does not forgive what she's seen. So allow me to help by showing you my battle…with the greatest trainer I've ever encountered._

Hikari's senses blanked. A single battle in the center of Sabrina's gym filled them. A younger, longer-haired Sabrina battled a single boy. He was not like the trainers Hikari seen so far. Not even the dojo-trainer. His Pokémon moved with absolute faith in him, and he had equal faith in them. He won over Sabrina because it wasn't strictly about winning through overpowering strength or vicious strategy. Win or lose, at the end, he would know his partners did well, and wouldn't hesitate to let them know it. It was about shared determination. About adventuring together. About protecting each other… Even though his gaze was fierce and daunting to be under for any challenger, he was still able to turn the gentlest of eyes on his partners...

Tailmon's voice interrupted. "Hikari?"

The present snapped back into place. Hikari looked ahead. Takeru and Patamon were still in sight. It had been seconds. Only seconds. She glanced at Tailmon, and looked over her shoulder at Sabrina, before hesitantly taking a few steps forward and running after Takeru.

Blue strolled up to Sabrina's side, and watched them go until they were completely out of sight.

"This has been as interesting as you promised," he said, crossing his arms. "But now I want the facts, Sabrina. What the hell is going on?"

"Something big," she answered solemnly. "So big that I cannot tell if I should be in wonder or in terror."

* * *

"Izumi," Miyako pleaded tiredly.

"Inoue," he answered flatly.

Miyako closed her eyes and tried to remain patient. The earlier flicker had been caused by a purposeful shutting off of their power. Their back-up system was up and running, and could hold them for weeks if they maintained it properly, but Koushiro had been in a semi-hysterical state ever since they had stabilized. The bottom floor of the building—the true bottom floor—was little more than a hole in the ground with a bunch of fuse boxes, and he had been in and out of it, mumbling and ducking and glancing up at the ceiling. And now he was poking around in the closed room where they'd first opened Alice's Door, carrying all types of strange supplies in and scattering them like toys. He had yet to answer any of her questions, and the air felt eerily similarly to when they'd hit roadblocks in the past. She hadn't heard him refer to her by her first name all day.

"The power is going to be _fine_, Izumi. Why are you still on this?"

He tossed a set of pliers, and poked his head out. Koushiro no longer resembled a cool-headed scientist. His sleeves were rolled up, and he'd swept his hair back into a ponytail so short it was almost a waste of a rubber band. Dirt, dust, and cobwebs coated his skin and clothes, and his palms were red from all the things he'd hauled in. Even building the computer hadn't made him look like this.

"Because if we're not prepared, the power isn't going to be fine." He rubbed his hands distractedly on his coat. "I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner. Lots of other stuff on my mind, I guess. In a war, what is the first step if direct, theoretically overpowering force fails to get results?"

"Siege?"

"Broad, but correct. Resources, Inoue. They'll separate us from our resources. The back-up system is great, but it's not meant to be used back to back like that. The cells only last 12 hours. We've got five of them and two charging stations. How many of those rapid cycles of draining and charging do you think they were built for?"

Her eyes lit with understanding…and subsequently welled with dread, flitting up toward the lights and back to Koushiro."They'll at least last long enough to get everyone back and fix this, right?"

Koushiro could almost feel the bags forming under his eyes. "With Amphimon unable to do her job, and this thing attacking... I don't know. I'm not sure we can find the attacker, destroy it, get all our friends back, _and_ give Amphimon the time and power to do her thing. That's not even considering what other trouble this political power-grab bullshit is going to cause next."

She began to pace and whirl, glaring at nothing and nibbling fiercely at her nails. "They don't know what could happen… the others could be trapped in that other world permanently… or that _thing_ could get a hold of Amphimon and Alice's Door!"

"That's right." _And you don't know what I know about where that _thing _is operating from._ His eyes darted to the lights again. "I don't know when or how, but they're going to attack our back-up power, and I don't intend to be caught off guard if they successfully damage it. I'm no electrician and there's a very real chance this will fail in practice, but we've got a few days to figure it out or even ask other digidestined about how to do it to give ourselves a fighting chance. We're going to see if we can't turn this testing room into a generator of some kind. Any kind. It's the most impenetrable room we have. Right now I'm banking on Kabuterimon's electricity."

She rolled up her sleeves and walked by him into the testing room. "Why didn't you tell me all this sooner, Izumi?"

"I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to involve you…"

"That's all?" She turned fierce, defiant eyes on him. "You're coddling me again!"

"No, I—"

"Yes, you are!"

He picked up the pliers he'd carelessly tossed. Maybe she was right. Should he tell her about Bene...? About the Dark Ocean...?

_Yes…But not right now. Right now we've got to work on this power problem._

He smiled apologetically. "I guess I am coddling you again. Sorry, Miyako."


	22. Chapter 22

Takeru followed the sound of Patamon's snuffles down a small, quiet alley. Normally, he would have had some reservations about entering, but it was very well kept. No trash. No mysterious liquid pooling in cracks and potholes. Just a smooth, straight line of asphalt surrounded by brick walls and windowsills that ended after maybe twenty feet. Patamon was near the back of it, sitting against the wall. Takeru sat by his side.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered.

Patamon didn't look up. "What are you—hic—sorry for? You haven't done anything wrong. I'm the one…"

A wan smile teased the corner of Takeru's mouth. "It's been like this ever since I was little… Tell me what Sabrina meant."

"What is there to tell you? You get so mad… All because I wasn't strong enough to handle using the power from the digivices to beat Devimon. But you don't blame me. You blame yourself and you blame things that are evil… But ever since we came to this world I noticed you getting more and more upset with the way things work here… You're not just mad at the powers of darkness anymore. This is how they become strong and protect each other in this world, but you can't get past the idea that it's risky! You've been carrying these feelings around since 1999...!"

"You like the ideas of this world because if we had been trainers, you think you would have been stronger?"

"Trainers hone on each other. We could have stopped whenever we wanted. Sure, maybe there's a risk of an accident and somebody gets seriously hurt and maybe dies every once in a while. But after so many times being in life threatening situations… I was so much stronger. By the time we fought the Dark Masters, we had been in so many battles that I handled being MagnaAngemon for the first time without breaking a sweat. Piedmon didn't stand a chance against me! I wish I had been strong enough to handle Devimon so easily, without needing to absorb all that extra power. Then I wouldn't have died…and you wouldn't feel this way."

Takeru reached over and stroked the back of his distraught partner. "I'm sorry… I never once considered that this might have hurt you so much. You're right. The thought of someone intentionally putting their partner in danger without an excellent cause infuriates me until I don't even feel like myself anymore. The thought of losing you again…" He laughed nervously. "It scares me to this day."

Patamon shook him off. "Stupid! It scares me to think about losing you too! But I came back, Takeru! I'm a digimon and I get to come back as an egg! You're human! If I lose you, I lose you forever! I can't even wrap my brain around the idea. It's terrifying and lonely... Our fights are not about saving the world because it's the world. It's about us protecting the world because you live in it and you mean everything to us!"

"And we as humans are supposed to sit there and be content that someone we love is putting their neck on the line for us? _That_ is stupid, Patamon. I know I don't have any powers, but that doesn't mean I should just sit there on the side and do nothing while you fight! We should make it easier for you somehow!"

"You do that by helping me digivolve!"

"Is that _all_?"

"Why does there have to be more? You stick by me and even give me plans and help me figure out what to do when we're in over our heads! You motivate me to do all the most amazing things I've ever done! Why isn't that enough reason to fight for you?"

"Because inevitably, the risk is too big, and we, the humans, are left standing there helplessly when something happens to you. And even if you come back, that helplessness hurts us, and it ends up hurting you too!"

Patamon didn't respond. That was where they were at this very moment, and it was always where they would end up. They were on opposite sides of an argument that went in a perfect circle. Neither of them was wrong, because there was no wrong or right involved. Patamon was a monster seeking to protect his human, and Takeru was a human seeking to protect his monster. They could see both sides of it, but as much as they wanted to, all they could do was guess at where and how to meet each other halfway.

Takeru took a deep breath. "If you want to get stronger… I give you my support, but what else do I tell you? I can't say 'then let's be like trainers'. …I can't just battle casually thinking that some kind of accident might happen and then I'd have to lose you again. I'm sorry…"

"Takeru, you're a lot like Natsuko-san. She was always trying to stop you from fighting when you were small because she was concerned you'd get hurt. But she learned to trust you and not worry about you so much." He twiddled his paws, a little confused about what to say next so as not to sound like he was lecturing Takeru. "It doesn't have to be about physical strength. We're new…so maybe you could teach me stuff…"

"Like what?"

Patamon's ears drooped around his body, and he scrunched up his face in thought. "Cool stuff? Like flying from the direction of the sun so whoever I'm fighting won't see me 'til it's too late... _Pow_! Like in the movies."

"So…tactics? I mean, I don't know all that many myself…"

"We'll learn together! Then we'll be strong together... and you won't have to be so scared that I'm going to die again." Patamon hopped up into Takeru's lap. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Takeru shook his head, and smiled. "Nn, I'm the sorry one..."

"Are you crying…?"

He laughed helplessly, even as tears rolled down his cheeks. "Yes…No… Both? We always used to get in these silly arguments and apologize and cry back and forth until we felt better, and it's just funny that this hasn't changed in so many years."

Patamon cracked a small smile, and started laughing too. "You're right!"

_Takeruuuu! Patamooooon! _

"Ah, they're looking for us."

Patamon stayed in Takeru's arms as he stood and headed for the mouth of the alley. "Hey, Takeru… You really don't resent that we fought, even though I died?"

Takeru rubbed his face against his sleeve, and smiled energetically. "No. There was something worth protecting, so I don't resent it. If I have to fight to get back to our world and make things right, I'll take the exact same path, and I won't regret it. How about you?"

Patamon nodded gamely, and sailed up to his perch on Takeru's hat. "Let's get the others and go to Johto!"


	23. Chapter 23

"AAAGH!"

Koushiro ducked reflexively. He knew a roll of electrical tape flew over his head, but he wasn't actually paying attention anymore. For hours now, he and Miyako had been working on getting the test room set up as some kind of auxiliary power source that would be able to channel Kabuterimon's power into the rest of the building. In that space, he had already become accustomed to Miyako's enraged roars and the tools that tended to fly shortly afterward.

The room was a mess of wires. No one had replied to their calls for help on how to accomplish their task—technically good, since it meant everyone was in hiding as Miyako had suggested—so they had created infernally messy lightning rods from bundles of copper wire using what little knowledge Koushiro had. The problem was transmission. They had no clamps or screws that they knew of; nothing to focus the electricity. Koushiro was in the process of trying to create an artificial feeding point using more copper wire, but he knew enough about physics and circuits to know that attaching such large amounts of open wire to anything was dangerous.

There was also the problem of the sheer amount of energy being conducted. Kabuterimon didn't have the force of a natural lightning bolt in him, which was good, but Koushiro didn't know exactly how much and how powerful the electrical energy his partner _could_ generate would be. What he did know was that current-carrying capacity was limited. There was a possibility of all the copper wires melting if the current was too strong. They had nothing even vaguely resembling a resistor or a capacitor to scatter or store any extra energy, and while he might have been able to make those things with time and creativity under different circumstances, this was entirely too big of a system.

The entire room was a last ditch effort, bound to go wrong in all the worst ways unless they got help, or found some better materials to work with. If it came to pass that they needed to utilize what they built, it would probably be the eleventh hour, and they would have nothing to lose. It was all about the effort. He prayed something would happen in the next week that would make that effort worth it.

A sob interrupted his thoughts. "We can't do this…"

He rubbed his hands on his knees. "We have to try, Miyako."

"I know that. That's not what I meant." She rubbed at her eyes. "We _could_ do this, but we don't have enough help. Keiko and Hiroshi are protecting the building. Tentomon is keeping an eye out for any messages from Ken, Yamato, and Takeru, and Noriko is getting the spare cells into place despite her shoulder still hurting. And I'm…here with you because this is the most pressing issue and it can't be done by just one person. Nobody is with Amphimon… Nobody is there to answer the digidestined on this side… Nobody can take a break if they're tired… I know we must have something we can use to make this work, but there's nobody to look."

"If you're tired I'm ordering you to rest as the head of the project." He had been avoiding looking her way. He never knew the right thing to do when girls cried, but if she was exhausted, that was a different story. "The last thing we need is for you to get sick."

"No, I'm fine, but… what if the others are tired? The situation is so serious right now that we can't do anything but deal with it." She sniffed. "God, the kids must be starving and there's no one to even take them any food."

He sighed, and scooted over to sit beside her. "We'll get this done somehow Miyako. The internet got us this far, but we're on our now. For the time being, I'm going to try making this slightly less of fireman's nightmare. I can handle that alone. Why don't you go take over Noriko's job and let her check on Keiko and Hiroshi? If you get everything set up, take the time to check on Amphimon and look for something to help us finish this ad lib power source." He rubbed his shoulders. All of his muscles felt sore and his motion was stiff. "When you come back, I'm going to tell you some things I've known for a little while—not that I purposely hid it, just… I didn't know what the implications were. But I think I do now, and you should know, and I think you should tell the other chosen children about it too. All of them. It will keep them from feeling lost, if nothing else. Knowing what we're up against… It might not boost our morale, but I think it'll do us some good."

Miyako indignantly opened her mouth to question him, but quickly closed it. Now wasn't the time. She left him to think on their problem in peace. Noriko would be moving between the top floor and the 'second' floor, where the computer and the entrance were. The building was a grand total of four floors and the floor plan was economic and simple. There were no elevators, but the flights of stairs were not particularly treacherous. It shouldn't have taken her very long to get to her destination, but she paused on floor three: the dormitory.

For all the memories of frustration that lived elsewhere, the dormitory was different. There were no windows to let sunlight in anywhere in the building, but the dormitory was no less warm for it. No sterile glass or shiny metal. No cold granite hallways or fluorescent lights buzzing every ten feet. The beds were a bit squished together because space was limited, the halls were a little narrow because the plaster was put in after the stone, the showers had a distinctly locker room-like feeling to them, and there was only a single coveted couch in their common room. But there was a soft carpet she could walk barefoot on without freezing her toes off, more often than not she was free to sleep in any bed in the girl's room, since she was usually the only one there, and there were no speakers or computers or much of anything in the way of communication with any other floor save a single intercom in the common area. Rest and the moment of peace were sacred in the dormitory.

Of course, that had made it a hub for digidestined who were less involved with the technical parts of the project. Miyako looked into the open door of the common room, with that single couch and the dining table made of 3 mismatched donated sets pushed together. It had seemed in the past that whenever the team was approaching the point of nervous breakdown, that room became the heart of an unwarranted party. Miyako had could fondly count the times she'd come to the dormitory with Koushiro and Ken, feeling a little defeated, only to find Mimi, Sora, and Yamato cooking dinner for everyone. It was never quite ready when they got there but that was okay, because Takeru, Hikari, and Daisuke were doing the laundry, and the digimon were making the beds with fresh sheets under Iori's instruction. Of course, their exuberance was a little disconcerting at times. She knew they were there to try and ease the burden in whatever ways they could, but it hadn't stopped her from snapping at them on two equally embarrassing occasions where she let her frustration get the better of her. Lucky for her, she had good friends who knew her well enough to know she was kind of unpredictable when she was tense.

_Those were the days, _she thought jokingly, but immediately on the heels came a much more serious consideration. Ever since the project had gone wrong, Koushiro seemed to be hiding things from her for the sake of what…? Sparing her? Protecting her? She had been angry at him for it. She had accused him of babying her. But what if he was remembering all those times when she had behaved childishly or completely freaked out under pressure? Hell, she had just spent several hours screaming and throwing things in front of him over a problem that wasn't even a problem yet, and she had ended it in tears. As much as she wanted to think she was okay, she could almost feel one of those dramatic fits of woe she sometimes had coming on. Whatever he intended to let her in on was probably going to trigger it, and what was he supposed to do with her then?

Somehow she would have to hold it in. If she fell apart, that was one less person to help him.

"Inoue-san…?"

She stopped, and looked over her shoulder. She had completely bypassed the stairs to the top floor, and Noriko was standing in the middle of the hall rubbing at her shoulder.

Miyako said the first thing that came to mind. "You're dusty."

"And you're spacing out. What have you and Izumi-san being doing down there?"

Miyako's hand immediately went to her temples. She hoped she didn't look exasperated. "For now, I'm here to relieve you."

"Oh, it's fine. There's only one more cell to get. We decided they should all go upstairs, so they can be right where we need them in case of any emergencies."

"Might as well go together then. You've exasperated your shoulder enough."

Noriko nodded. The door to the battery room was innocuous wood, and could have been the entrance to any storage closet in the world, but the staircase inside was iron mesh. It made staring into the opening very dungeon-like, but inside was bone dry and well kept, and even kind of pleasant with the lights on. It was, however, filled with buzzing and humming and occasional beeping. The auxiliary power that kept the computer up during short term power outages was housed there. Not a place you'd spend too much of your time, but not the worst place in the world if you were in need of a panic room.

"You never answered me," Noriko said in a stubborn, unyielding tone that suggested she wasn't going to let it go without an answer. "What are you and Izumi doing on the bottom floor?"

"Preparing for a worst case scenario." Miyako drifted to the far wall where the last cell rested. She ran her fingers down the sides of the body until she found the handle to lift it by. It was lighter than she expected, but just heavy enough that it swung in an unexpected manner. She felt it steady as Noriko grabbed the bottom to support her. "Koushiro is concerned that we're going to damage the cells from overuse. They aren't meant for the kind of back-to-back use we're employing. He's also sure the next attack will be more precise, aimed at putting us in the dark entirely. One way or the other, we're looking at total power loss. So we're trying to rig something up that will function as an auxillary source."

The question rolled off Noriko's tongue with no hesitancy. "How many days of power can we expect from these cells?"

"12 hours per cell with five cells...We're assured those two and half days, and probably two and a half more. But I don't know how fast things will break down after that. They might start to give us less than 12 hours, or they might burn out completely. I suspect we won't get the full 12 hours from the fifth cell. At that point we'll be recharging cells off the power from another cell. Like paying a credit card debt with another credit card..." They reached the main hallway. "I'm gonna go set this up and make sure everything is on standby. Could you… What's wrong?"

"Nothing. We have cleaning supplies in the laundry room, right?"

"Yes..." Miyako answered warily. "What are you thinking, Noriko?"

"You and Izumi-san have enough to think about. Let me handle this." She turned. "You look frazzled Inoue-san. Please don't overwork yourself."

The young girl strode purposefully down the hall, leaving Miyako behind with the battery. She flexed her aching shoulder, and jogged ahead until she reached the only T-section in the entire building, and turned left to the closed main entrance. Keiko and Kudamon were playing with their new crested jewelry, while Hiroshi sat with Biyomon, bored but attentive. Noriko pointed sharply at him.

"You two. Come with me. Keiko, how are you holding up?"

"I should ask you that," Keiko answered, looking pointedly at the pink blush still creeping up over Noriko's sagging collar from where she'd been forcefully parted from her shirt. "But I'm ok."

"I'm not," Kudamon whined. "I'm hungry..."

Noriko smiled sympathetically. "We'll send something up for you. Gentlemen."

Noriko whirled back down the hall at a quick pace, and Hiroshi matched her step. Her legs were short, so it wasn't all that hard.

"What's going on?" Hiroshi asked in a calm, quiet voice. "Did you find out what Izumi and Miyako-san have been doing?"

"I did. They're trying to make sure we have power. The u.p.s.* batteries aren't a permanent solution to the power problem. Inoue-san estimated about 5 days before some degradation occurs in the best case. She pointed out that the next time we get attacked it's likely to be with the intention of blacking us out entirely." She glanced sharply to the side. "No matter what happens, Amphimon and the computer need to have power."

"How will we help?"

"The same way we always have. Protect the people who know what they're doing. We can't do anything about the potential attack. Biyomon and Kudamon are the only help we have right now, and the last thing I want is for either of you to be fighting without backup."

"We'll deal with that as it happens."

"For today, we need to check our water supplies. If we have empty containers, we need to fill them. If they've taken our light, they're probably well on their way to taking our water. We also need to see about minimizing the power load. It probably hasn't occurred to Inoue and Izumi yet because they're working too hard, but if we cut out stuff like this." She gestured to the lights buzzing above their heads. "We might be able to squeeze a little extra time out. Might only be a few minutes for all I know, but we need everything we can get."

Biyomon trotted up between them. "Water should come first. There is only so much that can be done in the way of turning off lights before it becomes a hazard."

Hiroshi nodded. "I'm with Biyomon. We'd need to find flashlights and spend time deciding what to turn off and what to leave. There aren't any windows, so it's not like we can rely on sunlight. Water is the more straightforward task right now."

"Alright. Biyomon, I give you temporary permission to fly in the halls. Get Keiko and Kudamon something to eat. The parents shipped all kinds of crazy snacks here toward the end of the project, so there should be something you can carry to them easily."

"Got it." With a hop-skip, the bird digimon was airborne and soon, he was out of sight.

"We know we've got the food, even if it's junk, so don't worry about that, but head down to the dorm and check our situation on bottled water. I'm gonna try to find some buckets or something."

"You really think we'll need to go that far?"

"Not for survival, no. We have cases of water and tea and who knows what else in the way of hydration; more than enough for the eight of us to survive for quite a while. But I do think the ability to take a bath or just wash our underwear will be refreshing. We've had the luxury of showers so far, but our clothes already reek, if you haven't noticed."

"Been trying to ignore it." He jogged ahead of her, off to the dormitory floor. "Don't strain your arm. Biyomon should be done delivering the food in a few minutes. I'll let him know to help you."

Noriko passed right by the stairs to the top floor, entirely unaware of Miyako sitting midway, with her face buried in her hands. Sound carried in those empty halls.


	24. Chapter 24

Piyomon and Agumon were very quiet. Sora and Taichi were walking just ahead of them in a strangely rigid silence that neither digimon could quite figure out.

They had been happy to see one another when Taichi arrived on the bullet train, and Sora had even cried a little. Everything had been fine while they were in Goldenrod City, and continued to be fine while Taichi explained to Sora everything he'd heard about the the short term arrests, what happened when trainers tried to catch digimon. Sora had quietly digested the information on their journey north, but somehow that silence had taken an awkward, oppressive turn.

"What do you think is wrong with them?" Piyomon whispered.

Agumon crossed his arms. "They haven't spent a lot of time together since the project started. Maybe they just don't remember how to talk to each other."

"Humans are so strange sometimes. I never forgot how to talk to you all this time."

Taichi held in a sigh. It had been ten years, and the digimon were no closer to understanding the concept behind whispering. He glanced at Sora, but her eyes stayed on the ground. She was either ignoring them, or just so deep in thought that she honestly couldn't hear them.

They were technically correct. He and Sora didn't know how to talk to each other anymore, and part of it was the separation caused by the project. He and Sora didn't have similar tasks. Taichi had been closer to Koushiro and Japan, acting as a spokesperson of sorts, while Sora had gone all over the world with Mimi and Yamato to raise what money they needed.

As he recalled, it had been one of the more harrowing moments for the chosen children who weren't working on the technical side, because the active fundraising had to end when the school year began.

Hikari, Ken, and Takeru were fourteen when that summer ended, and their last year of junior high commenced. The trio had become close friends, and Taichi fondly remembered the nights they spent together, studying their brains out to get into a good senior high school. Daisuke was, of course, more laid back about it. He had his noodle cart dream, and fully intended to start working on it as soon as junior high was over. Miyako had already passed her exams and was enjoying her first year of senior high school, while Jyou had graduated his and moved onto a university. Koushiro, not yet truly busy since the facility and the computer were still not built, quietly aced another year of senior high. Some years prior, Yamato had surprised Taichi by actually taking his entrance exams seriously. Of course, Taichi had also surprised Yamato by doing the same, and they ended up in the same school. They got in trouble tons of times that year, because there was always the project to talk about. Mimi went back to her high school in America, and Iori—who had little to do in the project until nearly two years later when Noriko, Hiroshi, and Keiko came in, much to his disappointment—began sixth grade.

The building and the computer were completed by the end of that school year, but it was Koushiro who put in tireless hours and made it his full time occupation when he graduated senior high school. He intended to have the completed project on his record whenever he got around to attending university. For everyone else, it was their second priority. Even Ken and Miyako, the only ones worthy of having their names attached to the program development beside Koushiro's, were not as involved. The parts of the program Miyako wrote, and the co-ordinate grid system Ken developed were done over periods of years when they had the time to give—not to say they hadn't both made themselves sick on multiple occasions in an attempt to shoulder more work. For everyone else, most of the responsibility in the project was supporting the trio, and that was all they broke away from their normal lives to do. Mimi would come to cook, Yamato to entertain them and remind them not to stress themselves out, Daisuke to make bad jokes and generally be a distraction, and Sora to make sure they were caring for themselves mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Meanwhile Taichi usually ventured into the digiworld with Hikari to run errands for Koushiro. There were the times when everyone got together, but… while it was a bonding exercise for the group, it wasn't the same as having a one on one.

There were also issues that had nothing to do with the project.

Yamato had asked Sora to marry him when he completed university. It was only a year away now, and great news as far as Taichi was concerned, but it had made Sora awkward around him.

Taichi wasn't bothered that his best friend was going to marry his childhood friend. What bothered him was this older Sora. He understood that people changed and grew up and matured—he certainly had, or so he thought—but the older Sora got, she became less and less that energetic, tomboyish girl he'd befriended a long time ago. Sora was more like her mother now. It didn't change the fact that they were friends. They had been through too much together not to be friends for life regardless of what happened, but he couldn't talk to this demure, effeminate Sora as easily as he could the more rambunctious, unrelentingly maternal Sora from his childhood. That girl still showed up every now and again under the right conditions, but mostly she behaved with that same unusual shyness she had used to hide the cookies he caught her delivering to Yamato when they were still teenagers.

"Sora!"

Piyomon's cry startled both her partner and Taichi from their thoughts, and they came to a sudden, confused halt. The pink bird digimon darted between them and Agumon followed, both of them growling warily at the arches marking entry to the traditional-looking city beyond.

A wind both biting and refreshing in its chilliness encircled them, and a strange creature landed elegantly under the arch. It was blue and white, a sleek body with slender limbs, and behind a hexagonal crest rising from its head flowered a shimmering purple mane. It regarded them with serious but calm red eyes, its tails swaying on the wind that either came from it or gathered to it naturally. Piyomon and Agumon slowly let their guard down. It was looking at them with a wary interest, but it wasn't hostile.

It leaped down to get a closer look at them. Up close it was the size of a small horse, but it landed as lightly as a cat in front of Piyomon, and lowered its head to investigate her.

To her credit, Piyomon didn't flinch when she felt its tingling cold breath flow over her face and feathers. She did, however, glance back at Sora with uncertain eyes. _What do I do?_

Sora returned an equally unsure look, but the creature intercepted it. Their eyes locked, and a tremble ran through her as it picked its head up and approached her. She took a step back, daunted by the idea of having this odd dog-creature who was taller than she was by a head or two so close to her.

"What a rare occasion," it said in a strangely feminine voice. "Suicune is curious!"

It turned away from Sora, glancing over its shoulder at the newcomer, and in a blue flash and sudden gust, Suicune leaped into the wind and was quickly out of sight. Under the archway it had perched on was a graceful woman in a vibrant crimson and green kimono, her hair done up in the traditional shimada style. She was half-hiding behind a delicate black fan with a single golden stripe.

Sora seemed stunned. "…A geisha?"

The girl waved her hand quickly to dismiss the thought. "No, no. I'm merely a performer at the Ecruteak Dance Hall. I'm Zuki. And you…" She gestured to Sora with her fan. "Are of interest to Suicune."

"Suicune…?" Sora thought of the icy winds accompanying the creature's appearance. _Sounds more like Yamato's territory…_ "I think it might have the wrong person. We're just passing through on our way home."

"Suicune may be spotted from afar," a different voice said. "But it does not confront trainers frivolously. The moment it paused to gaze at you, your significance was known."

Zuki turned with a modest smile to greet the blonde man who joined her under the archway.

Taichi tilted his head and squinted, surveying the man from head to toe, and taking in the purple headband, the purple and red scarf, the black and purple sweater, and most notably: the little golden pin that looked vaguely like a musical note or some kind of fresh digimon with a bent horn.

"You're a gym leader aren't you?"

The man smiled, mildly impressed. "I am. My name is Morty."

Sora suspiciously grabbed the edges of her skirt. "You're not...psychic, right?"

"I am known as the Mystic Seer of the Future to some, but the future I see is only my own. My mastery is with ghost Pokémon."

The digimon and their partners breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Zuki smiled. "Do you remember the last trainer Suicune took an interest in, Morty?"

The sigh caught in their throats.

"Are you suggesting she might be worthy of entering the Bell Tower?"

"Let us find out." The dancing girl swayed gracefully on her geta, a pokéball in hand. "May I challenge you to a battle?"

Sora stood still, momentarily surprised by the request. But it passed, and she felt a scowl tighten the muscles of her forehead. "Piyomon, we're leaving."

The light of digivolution flooded the arches, momentarily stunning their would-be opponents. When it faded, Birdramon was already in the air with Sora, Taichi, and Agumon, wheeling northeast to where home was.

Taichi looked down at their confused faces, and back to Sora, equally confused. "Why did we run?"

"We were harassed enough by Zapdos back in Sabrina's city. I'm not battling somebody's partners for fun, and I'm getting out of here before that Suicune decides it still wants a look at me and comes back!"

Agumon pointed with an uneasy gurgling moan. "I think we might be too late for that…"

Ahead of them stood a tall, historical looking tower surrounded by trees in a strangely autumnal state despite the season. Suicune stood on top of it, beside a red bird twice its size with wings like brilliant rainbows. Its neck was bent closer to the tiny blue creature before it, as though listening, but neither was looking at the other. They looked like two people who'd had their conversation interrupted.

Sora clenched her fingers in her partner's feathers. _Please… Please, just leave us alone…_

The rainbow bird spread its wings, and Suicune darted to the top of the spire that tipped the structure, its serene blue glow flaring into an ice colored aura. They could feel the chill in the stirring air before leaves and debris rose and gave the whirling wind shape.

"Not this time!"

Sora's crest lit, and the power that had been suppressed in Saffron City flowed freely. She held on as her partner's shape shifted below her, taking the shape of Garudamon for the first time in years. Sora slid down as quickly as she could. Much as was the case with Phoenix Rising, the only safe place she could be during the use of Shadow Wing was encased in her partner's talons. Since this iteration of her partner could use her upper talons as fists, it was better to go for the lower ones.

Taichi and Agumon were not as deft about their descent.

"Hurry up," she urged. "Garudamon can't do anything until you get down here!"

Suicune's howl distracted them, and the gust that followed was viciously cold and powerful enough to send Garudamon tumbling through the sky head over claws. Sora was saved by the reflexive clench of her partner's toes, but Taichi and Agumon lost their grip and plummeted toward the ground before her eyes.

"TAICHI!"

The urgent shriek focused Garudamon, and she dove after them. Catching them would not have been a problem, but Suicune darted beneath her, riding a tailwind with the agility of a swallow. In a single leap, it caught Taichi and Agumon, and vanished into the wind with them. Garudamon was left alone in a suddenly empty sky devoid of the coolness that seemed to signal Suicune's presence. All she could do was regain her former altitude, and face the tower, where the rainbow bird now hovered.

"What have you done with my friends?" Garudamon demanded.

No response. No motion aside from the steady flapping of its wings. It gazed at Garudamon with serious vermillion eyes that were strangely curious. Just like Suicune. She didn't expect it to talk to her, but she knew it was intelligent enough to communicate somehow. It just wouldn't.

"What. Have you done. With my _friends,_" Garudamon repeated.

Still no response.

The rage built in her. Turned into heat and wind. Below, Sora curled inside her partners mostly closed talons. Garudamon let it go.

"Shadow Wing!"

The flaming wind took form and homed in on the steadily hovering bird. It made no attempt to dodge, and was engulfed. Garudamon reached her hand out to help without thinking. She was used to her opponents dodging or dismissing the attack, or putting up a fight of some sort. The bird hadn't actually done anything. It was Suicune that had taken Taichi away.

The guilt didn't have time to take root. The flames died down into a warm glow, and revealed the rainbow bird, entirely whole and without so much as a singe on its plumage. It had absorbed the flame, and something in its expression had changed. It was looking at them…like it _knew_ them, but couldn't figure out just how.

The seven colors of its wings began to glitter. Individual fires lit all over its body, and joined together into a white-hot flame that covered it from its crest to its decadent tail feathers.

Garudamon braced herself. Wherever this attack went, she intended to not be there. To her surprise, the bird sailed right at her on the same swift tailwind Suicune had utilized. She folded her wings and dropped in time to avoid it, but the rainbow bird opened its mouth. The flames around its body flooded its beak, compressing into a roseate inferno that was blasted out in an unrelenting stream at Garudamon. It struck her back and quickly overcame her, burning away her feathers and scorching her talons. The pain was as white-hot and blinding. Even if there were any air around her that wasn't burning, she wouldn't have been able to suck it in for a scream.

Sora, unable to escape when the blaze found her inside her partner's talons, managed to do both.


	25. Chapter 25

Sora's screams reached Taichi and Agumon, but they were in no position to help her.

After being tossed from Garudamon, Taichi had instinctively reached for his digivice, but the impact of Suicune snatching him out of the sky had caused him to drop it. The speed and the chill wind of Suicune leaping without cease left him disoriented, but he knew where his digivice had fallen. The red roof of the dance theatre. Suicune shifted directions in its jarring way, and he saw his opportunity.

"Agumon!"

He leaped from Suicune's back, and Agumon leaped after him, but it was far quicker than he could ever have hoped to be. Taichi hit the roof, and while he was still gasping for the air that had been knocked out of him, Suicune landed beside him, and quickly pinned him down.

"_Baby Flame!"_

The flame hit Suicune's side and dissipated harmlessly in the winds around its body. It didn't even look up at him. When he made the mistake of closing in to use his claws, he was pinned down beside his partner.

They were forced to watch in horror as burned feathers and clumps of Garudamon's hair fell through the early evening sky, crackling and exploding in bursts of data like grisly fireworks. Garudamon's body hazed out of focus like so much colored static. Sora's screams ended, and the silence was far worse.

"Damn it," Taichi hissed, clawing at the roof in vain as he tried to worm himself from beneath Suicune's surprising weight. "SORA!"

Light erupted from Garudamon's remaining claw where Sora was held, the only part of her left. The data littering the sky coagulated around the flames that had consumed the perfect level digimon and took a new shape, one neither Taichi nor Agumon recognized. Four-winged, with an extremely elaborate, billowing tail. If it was digivolution, it was not complete. The flame launched back to the rainbow bird it had come from, and all that was left behind was Sora and Yokomon.

Suicune released Taichi and Agumon to catch them. Standing on the rooftop, Taichi could see Morty standing with Zuki and four other girls that looked like Zuki, staring up at the tower where the rainbow bird perched quietly, unharmed by its returned flames. He snatched his digivice from the rooftop and scrambled down. His body didn't approve, but he gave no thought to the aches blossoming in his joints. He dashed to where Suicune had landed with Sora, violently shoving the creature out of his way. It just didn't matter that it was a monster that could kill him with ease; not in light of what had happened to Sora. He cradled her limp form.

Yokomon was strangely intact, unmarred by the flames that had destroyed Garudamon. Sora had not been so lucky. Her clothes were burned and still wafting dark, oily smoke. Her arms and shins were bright red with burns, and she reeked of scorched cotton and singed hair. It had grown over the years, but most of it had been reduced to a crusty mesh at the sides of her neck. He brushed the frizzy, burned edges away, and slipped hesitant fingers just below the curve of her jaw. The skin was feverishly hot, but she still had a strong, rapid pulse. It probably hadn't calmed from the panic that must've set in when the fire found her.

He shook her gently. "Sora…?"

She didn't stir. He looked to Agumon for help, but his partner was holding onto Yokomon, and looking to him with those same pleading eyes. Neither of them were stirring.

Taichi thought of Hikari's message… Of the young, reckless trainer covered in scars and the Koromon village that had been burned down. He thought of his sister's shivering shoulders as she talked about the not-Koromon _thing _that would have killed the trainer if not for her digivice and her partner's holy ring. He thought of how many other trainers might have been so foolish, and died for it, and of how many digimon must have died fighting. …Of those that might have been transfigured, gotten away, and were running loose in the digital world.

He knew what he should do, but Sora was steaming like a fresh corpse in his arms. If she had been awake, she would certainly have scolded him for his decision. But she wasn't, and that was all it took.

"Help!" he bawled. "Somebody, help me!"

* * *

_Bing!_

Tentomon glanced up at the screen, and immediately went back to twiddling his claws. All the messages were from digidestined children in other countries, asking questions he couldn't answer, or telling him about developing human world problems he had no idea how to address. It almost wasn't worth the effort of looking every time it—

He nearly tripped over himself turning back to the screen.

"Ichijouji… Ken!" He scuttled into the hall. "Miyako-han!"

A clatter from the storage closet further down the hall answered him, and she hop-skipped out, barely managing to not fall over the odds and ends that had tumbled out of place.

"What's wrong now?"

"We got a message from Ken!"

It was the best news Miyako had heard since Amphimon's arrival, and she dashed toward the lab as though the solution to all her problems had suddenly appeared within. She eagerly scanned the message.

"Back on this side... found Tachikawa... Don't want to expose the side entrance...From above?" She looked at Tentomon. "They're here?!" Her jaw tightened and replied as quickly as her fingers would allow. _GET DOWN HERE__, IT'S NOT SAFE! _

She abandoned the laptop and ran with all her might. If the gates were open they could have been there sooner and safer. Who knew what eyes these mountains had right now. Hovering up there in the open air like idiots! But as she swerved to the T-section and turned for the main entrance, her worry-born anger was lost in relief.

Mimi, Palmon, Ken, and Wormmon were ducking under the partially opened gate, totally unharmed.

Miyako gratefully threw herself at her friends, and squeezed them tightly.

"Thank goodness," she croaked. "You're both alright."

Ken merely blushed, while Mimi smiled comfortingly and allowed the strained young woman to lead them back to the lab.

Mimi was immediately distracted by the jewels laid out on the table. "Wow! What's all that?" Her eyes flicked further, to the scrolling silhouette in front of the computer. "Is that Amphimon?"

Miyako nodded, and sat both of them down grimly. She explained what had happened to Noriko's partner, and how they had come under attack by the militaries of what seemed to be a several different countries. She explained their hypothesis on why the crests had been sent with Amphimon, that the next bearer of the crest of courage had been chosen, and how likely it was that the other crests would respond to other children if this continued to drag out. She explained what had happened to Iori, and what he had found when he stumbled back into the digital world. Most importantly, she explained their current situation in regards to the power, and why Amphimon was connected to the computer.

Ken took the information with a grim expression. "I'll have to go back in then. We need to find the others and get them back as quickly as possible."

Miyako tried hard to muster what bravery she had left. "I know."

"Koushiro's still in the basement right?"

"Yes."

He plucked his D3 and D-terminal from his pocket, and left it on the table, beside Amphimon. "Here's hoping she can find the time to do whatever she did with Iori's. A map would be useful." He stood with Wormmon in hand...and sat a tentative, but firm hand on Miyako's head. "You did fine, Miyako."

She kept her eyes down so he wouldn't see them welling, and nodded softly. When he was gone, she looked up to Mimi. The older girl and her digimon were both ashen.

"What's wrong?"

"When I was on my way to Cherrygrove… I heard some trainers talking about something weird happening at some ruins, but I didn't think it had anything to do with the digiworld or anybody dying…."

The hairs stood on the back of Miyako's neck. "It's ok, Mimi. It's a whole other world, and anything could have been happening."

Mimi didn't look convinced. "It was east… What if it was where the Tibetan anchor came down and trainers were getting lost in there? Some of them were just children…!"

Miyako did the only thing she could, and grabbed Mimi's hands. "I'm going to be selfish here… Please don't fall apart over something so uncertain, Mimi. I can't...support you right now." Tears started rushing down her cheeks. She could no longer hold it all in. "I can barely support myself. Koushiro has been 'sparing' me from information because he thinks I'm trying too hard, and he's right. I almost got s-s-shot, and there aren't enough people to do everything that needs to be done, and there isn't going to be any p-power or water soon, and Ha-hawkm-m-mon is still m-mi—"

She dissolved into sobs, leaving Mimi and Palmon momentarily stunned into silence. The two shared a sympathetic glance. They didn't have time to worry about having possibly missed the chance to help people who needed it when someone right in front of them so plainly needed help.

"It's okay, Miyako. I thought I should go back into the other world with Ken since I learned so much about how it works, but I see where I'm needed most." She squeezed the younger girl's hands. "You've got two more pairs of hands to help you now. We can do this."

Miyako felt as though she had been waiting for those four words her whole life. She cried harder, still worried out of her mind about what the next few days would bring, and fearing the worst for her lost partner. But she was relieved, somehow. She knew better than to believe everything would be alright, but the reassurance in Mimi's voice gave her hope.

* * *

"It really _is_ a mess in here…"

Koushiro's fingers lost their grasp on the pliers he'd been holding. "Ken…Wormmon…"

The insect digimon waved cordially. "We've just returned successful. Mimi and Palmon are upstairs with Miyako."

Koushiro suspected he should have been happier, but looking at Ken, he felt the weight of his knowledge bear down on him. Even more so than Miyako, perhaps even more so than Hikari, Ken might come apart at the seams if he was forced to deal with the Dark Ocean again. Koushiro was prepared to tell Miyako, because not telling her seemed to be doing more harm than good. But Ken was still sensitive when it came to matters that touched close to his many wounds. His brother's death, the Dark Ocean, and his time as the digimon Kaiser were all incidents inextricable from one another for him. Touch on one, and all three would occupy his mind. Telling him about this was...

Koushiro's face must have betrayed his thoughts, because Ken was staring at him warily.

"Sorry," Koushiro muttered quickly, turning his back on Ken.

Ken set his partner on the ground. "Wormmon, wait outside for me awhile, please?" He watched him scuttle out, and approached Koushiro. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Just going a little crazy from being surrounded by all these wires, I guess. Miyako told you about our power problem, right?" A gentle chuckle answered, causing Koushiro to turn mostly out of curiosity. "What's so funny?"

"You, thinking you can lie to me." Despite the chuckle, Ken's smile was bittersweet. "I've been on the other end of the expression you're wearing."

Koushiro considered if he should press the issue, but quickly let it go. Ken might not have the skepticism and nosiness that enabled Miyako to detect and dissect white lies, but he could spot a guilty conscience from a mile away. "I'm sorry, Ken. You're right. Something's very wrong, but I'm not sure how to tell you. I'm having a hard enough time thinking of how I'm going to tell Miyako when she gets down here."

"You're thinking too hard, Koushiro. Just say it."

"The thing that's trying to get at Alice's Door..." He paused, swaying between total withdrawal and total honesty. "It's from the Dark Ocean."

Ken tried and failed to at least look like he wasn't deeply disturbed. He wobbled, and Koushiro was immediately at his side to steady him. The voice that came out of his suddenly dry mouth was a hoarse whisper.

"You're sure?"

Koushiro nodded.

"Is it Daemon?"

The idea hadn't occurred to Koushiro at all. "I… don't think so. According to Miyako, Amphimon described it as more like Gennai and herself: not entirely a digimon, but not human either. As mysterious as he was, Daemon was definitely a digimon."

A bit of strength came back to Ken's legs, but he continued to lean on Koushiro. Daemon might not be the one clawing for Alice's Door, but he was certain to be waiting in the wings for his chance to come through it.

It wasn't as much of a relief as he expected. His personal fears aside, for Daemon to not have just destroyed this new threat, it would have to fit a certain criteria.

"When you're corrupt and powerful," he thought aloud. "You're likely to be whimsical out of arrogance when there's nothing to do… But if there's something to be gained, the only ones allowed to go about their business unimpeded are those who might be more trouble than they're worth in a fight, or those who might be useful to you in some way..."

Koushiro hadn't considered that either. He was worried about just how many other considerations might have escaped his notice if Ken had churned out two in mere minutes, but he was more concerned about his friend's haunted eyes and distracted tone of voice. "Ken?"

"It's something powerful; something that could give even Daemon pause..." Ken's eyes wrenched away from whatever ghosts they saw, and met Koushiro's. "Is there more bad news?"

"There's more news; not all of it bad, none of it great, but that's a long talk I'm going to have with Miyako. And then I intend to release the information to all the digidestined."

"Then I'll wait like everyone else." He sighed heavily, and ran his fingers over his face and into his hair. A thought occurred to him through his dread. "Have you really been exchanging messages only inside the immediate group?"

"Miyako handled most of the early messages while I was coming here, and I...don't think there's anything I can say to the world until I fix this."

"'The world' doesn't want to hear anything you have to say until you fix this anyway. The way Miyako told it, 'the world' might actually be more interested in using you than letting you work at this point. I'm talking about the other chosen children."

Koushiro dropped his eyes. "I haven't had any time to compile a message since my arrival. Don't worry though, like I said, Miyako will be sending out the rest of the news after I talk to her."

Ken's eyebrows furrowed. "They need to hear something from _you_, Koushiro."

"I don't know enough about what's going on. Anything I tell them will result in questions I don't have the answers for."

"So you're having Miyako do it for you because you don't want to have to say 'I don't know'?"

Koushiro's face tightened. "I'm not Taichi, I can't pull off 'I don't know'. I'm the head of the project and I'm supposed to know what 's going on. Anything less will just cause a panic. "

Ken sighed. "I understand, Koushiro, but that's not a good excuse for having Miyako do this. You're the one wearing the metaphorical goggles right now. You're in charge of us. Not just me and Miyako and the others who are out searching and the former dark spore children, but chosen children everywhere. _You_ owe them an explanation."

Koushiro didn't say anything, and Ken turned away. "I'll be on my way then. I need to find the others." He paused at the door. "It's okay to not know, Koushiro. You're only human."

Koushiro's eyes closed as soon as Ken was gone. He leaned back against the wall, unable to sit comfortably among the wires, and gripped his tag. The crest inside provided him no answers, but he clung to it anyway.

* * *

Miyako was nowhere to be found when Ken made it back to the lab, but Mimi was there watching over Amphimon and Ken's digivice.

"Should I ask where she's gone?"

"I sent her away with Palmon to get some rest." Her gaze turned toward the whiteboard, coated in the events of the past few days. "I think she was at her limit."

Ken followed her gaze, and rubbed at his shoulders. "Don't worry about it too much. This is normal for them. Koushiro gets frustrated when he can't answer big questions about the project, because he feels he should have the answers as head developer. He pushes himself too hard, inevitably finds an answer or two that isn't what anyone wants to hear, and avoids saying anything or as long as he can. Meanwhile, Miyako attempts to be the perfect helper for him, and in the end, she forces these unwanted answers out of him. Then she tries to help him fix them, ignoring her own problems and trying entirely too hard. Koushiro then tries to spare her to keep her from breaking down, because he really does need her help, and she realizes she's being treated delicately because she's on the verge of a meltdown, and the idea that she's spread herself too thin to be useful to anyone is usually her last straw."

"Wow… You're so familiar with them."

"It's usually my job to step in about half-way through the cycle and mitigate. We're an incredibly functional trio, but those two alone…."

_I think I get it, _Mimi thought, biting back a crooked half-smile. _Koushiro hasn't changed a bit, and Miyako and I are very similar…_

Ken sighed heavily, and set Wormmon on the table. He grabbed his D3 and D-terminal, but they didn't look like they'd been disturbed. "She never woke up or came back or anything, did she?"

Mimi shook her head, and for a moment, both of them stared quietly at the script silhouette of the woman-digimon they were relying on; Mimi in curious wonder because she knew little, and Ken in dark, sympathetic gratitude because he knew enough.

"Well," he finally breathed. "I've got a lot to do and little time to do it."

Mimi nodded emphatically, and held out the pink backpack she'd been using "You'll be needing this, then. My Pokenav and all the food I had are inside, plus some extra water and tea from what we have downstairs. Maybe you can get the map function updated or fixed while you're out there. Don't be afraid to battle if you need money for food or more repellent, though maybe…" She gave Wormmon an apologetic smile. "You might want to battle as Stingmon."

The insect digimon drooped, but didn't protest. He knew well that he was not very strong or agile in his child form.

Ken patted his head to cheer him up, and gingerly accepted the effeminate sleeping pack. "More repellent sounds like a good reason to fight, if nothing else."

"Do you think we'll see Ladybug again?" Wormmon asked.

"_Ledyba_," Mimi corrected. "And maybe if you go back to where we left from. To it, we just winked out of existence when we crossed to the digital world. It's probably hiding somewhere, scared and lonely..."

Mimi's words poked at Ken's heart. Originally, he had no intention of taking the time to search for it, since they were in a hurry… But how could he leave such a defenseless creature in the territory of metal birds, almost a hundred miles from its home forest? The thought conjured up the image of it huddling beside Wormmon, and it was entirely too pitiable for him to leave alone. And it wasn't as though Ken had any leads this time.

"I'll take some time to search for him."

Mimi smiled. "Good luck!"

He nodded, and darted out of the lab, only to turn back. "Tachikawa-san, take care of Koushiro."

"I'll be taking care of everyone," she assured energetically.

"No,_ listen_ to me. Koushiro isn't the kind of person who can go a long way on a little care when he's stressed, even if he gives off that vibe. He gets worn down just as badly as Miyako, and he needs just as much looking after, even if he seems okay. He and Miyako work so poorly together because she gets too worn down trying to help him to notice, and he gets stupidly focused on her stability rather than his own. So, please."

Mimi nodded slowly, and Ken said his thanks and vanished into the halls with his partner, leaving her to fold her arms in wonder. "Maybe he has changed a little..."


	26. Chapter 26

Taichi sat down at Sora's bedside, and stared at her bandaged body. Agumon, on the other side of the bed, was nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, and his stubby tail kept twitching at the end.

Zuki had taken them into the Dance theatre, where there would be no intense questioning to further rattle Taichi. It would be obvious how Sora had been so badly damaged, but he would most certainly be drilled about not having a trainer ID and knowing next to nothing about how the world worked. The kimono girls, five all told, were surprised when they found out, but quickly left Taichi alone. The girls had called a Nurse Joy, flashed a heart scale belonging to their family, and the medical treatment began, no questions asked. Sora's burns turned out to be, with consideration to what had happened, minor. The bright red tint on her shins was first degree, and she had sustained superficial second degree burns where her clothing had melted against her skin. Her burn case was, to Taichi's relief, not life-threatening in the slightest. However, a single severe burn curling around her right palm was already blistering, and those blisters appeared to be filling in with blood.

Taichi hadn't been allowed in the room for the treatment, and he had gracefully accepted it on the condition that Agumon stay behind for Yokomon's sake. The little digimon was technically safe. If she had been fatally wounded, all they should have left of her was an egg. However, they were equally concerned about her. Considering what had happened to Garudamon and her coma-like state, it would have been more normal if she _was_ an egg.

Hours later, after a salve rub, a debridement, some gentle bandaging, and an anti-infection shot, Taichi was allowed back in while the nurse alternately packed and chose supplies to leave behind.

Morty entered quietly, and stood at Taichi's side. "Have they woken up at all?"

Taichi didn't respond, and the nurse shook her head.

"I don't understand precisely what happened but… Suicune and Ho-oh have taken interest in this girl. I've called an old friend of mine who is…something of a Suicune fanatic to figure out what's going on. I assure you, on my honor as Ecruteak gym leader, she'll be alright."

Taichi's fists clenched, and for a moment, his vision was overwhelmed by a burst of red static. He rose from his chair and collared Morty, his voice far darker than he ever suspected it could be, even though he could feel tears welling up. "Don't assure me unless you're _very_ sure, because if I come back and _anything_ has happened to her...!"

Morty grasped Taichi's shoulders, undeterred. "I swear to you, she'll be okay." When Taichi released him, he straightened his clothes. "Is returning home so important that you're really willing to leave her?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He chuckled bitterly. "If I were the burned one, I'd risk my life for this in a heartbeat, but I won't risk hers. So she's staying here to recover while I get the message where it needs to go. I'll be back for her as soon I can." His eyes lit ferociously, wordlessly relaying the seriousness of his previous warning.

"I suppose I'll give this to you then," the nurse interjected, handing a bottle of pills to Morty. "She can only have four of those a day. I've already administered a local anesthetic to her hand, so there's nothing else to be done if it hurts between now and tomorrow. If she can't get back to sleep through the pain, we'll send a chansey to sing to her." She looked at Taichi. "Any special requirements for dealing with the little one?"

Taichi was staring at the pills, forcing himself to come to terms with the idea that Sora was going to be in pain—a lot of pain—in unfamiliar surroundings in an unfamiliar world. And instead of staying by her side, he was leaving her in the hands of total strangers.

"Yeah…" he finally managed. "Don't expose her to pokéballs, and don't separate her from Sora."

Taichi walked outside with Agumon beside him, the child digimon's nostrils flared wide with the desire to be gone and be back for their friends. Taichi held up his digivice, and in the next moment was on his way atop MetalGreymon's back. On the tallest tower of Ecruteak, the rainbow bird perched, watching him pass with only the faintest curiosity. Taichi gritted his teeth and kept his eyes forward.

_I'm sorry, Sora… I'll be back for you, soon. I promise._

* * *

While Sora remained in a thinning sleep through the dawn in Ecruteak, Hikari and Takeru were already awake and worrying on the Vermillion docks.

They had spent the time since their arrival inquiring about temp work. Takeru still had a bit of money from the stones he carried, but it was nowhere near enough, and Joey insisted that his money was for food supplies only. Considering he was feeding his team of four, himself, their group of four, and the bottomless pit that was Punimon, they gracefully accepted that he would not be lending any additional monetary support.

The gym had refused them because they wouldn't battle. The docks and the construction site had refused them because they weren't strong enough. There were some gamblers outside the city, but they weren't quite _that_ desperate.

At the Pokémon Fan Club, looked into as a last resort, they didn't receive a pass, but they did have a bit of fun. The kindly president of the club had been enamored with both Patamon and Hikari, and gushed excessively over how adorable they were, much to Tailmon and Takeru's agitation. He didn't present them with a pass, but a woman who saw Takeru and Patamon together on their way out recognized how close they were. They received a tiny bell with a charming, relaxing chime as a gift just for being so well-bonded.

At the Pokémon center, providence smiled on them more graciously, but in a somewhat sinister fashion. Hikari had entirely forgotten about the heart scale her brother had given her, and wouldn't have guessed its use extended so far. While digging in her pockets, she had dislodged it utterly by accident. The nurse saw it, and her demeanor immediately changed. She seemed to be under the impression that Hikari's clumsiness had been some secret method of showing off the scale. In hushed tones, she asked what they needed. Even Joey was stunned by the change, and it was Takeru who sputtered out their requirements. The nurse had slipped a single pass onto the counter, no questions asked; however, she had no more.

They had bowed deeply to show their gratitude, and quickly vacated the Pokémon center.

Of course, they'd had no luck since.

Hikari rubbed at her arms, chilled by the morning sea breeze. "I think you should use it. Maybe I can follow on Nefertimon."

Takeru laughed. "You know by now, I'm not going to make you do that. I'll follow the boat, and you can ride."

"But you and Patamon already pushed yourselves trying to find me. Why are you the only ones who have to work hard?"

He reached out and ruffled her hair, purposely disheveling her ponytail. "Because we know when we've been working hard. You don't even realize how hard you've been at it, or you wouldn't be volunteering."

She scowled, and pulled her hair tie out. "That doesn't change the fact that you deserve rest as much as I do."

Takeru didn't respond. He was watching her comb her fingers through her hair. She'd grown it out in highschool, but she rarely let it down. She hadn't had an opportunity to formally wash it in days, but he was close enough that he could catch the scent of it in the breeze. It was a nostalgic smell of dust, grass, sweat, and whatever was on the wind; the same kind of smell that got into his own hair the first time he walked the digital world.

She carefully smoothed her hair back, and reapplied the band. "I'm not going to hide behind you."

He raised a brow. "You have never hid behind anyone, Hikari. I'm asking you to relax on the boat because we don't know for certain yet if my digivice will work the way yours did against the altered digimon. It might be something specific to you if Tailmon's holy ring played a part."

Altered. A good term for it, if one could be coined, and Takeru's reasons for putting her on the boat were sound.

Sabrina's words had let Hikari breathe, and Takeru's eyes seemed gentler after whatever had happened between him and Patamon in Saffron City. Tailmon remained unaffected. She was still quiet, in the frosty manner Hikari recalled from Yamato right before he and her brother had a fight so major that even their digimon became involved. Hikari knew this was partly her fault. She'd tainted her partner's view of the place without meaning to because of her sensitivity. She was not sorry for the hurt she felt, but she didn't like the outcome of it. Tailmon needed to relax and see Hikari being relaxed.

"Alright," she agreed. "I'll get on the boat. Has Joey been able to find anything?"

"Not sure." Takeru looked back toward dry land. "Where is he, anyway?"

Together, they walked back from the pier, just outside of town to the Diglett Cave. Patamon, Punimon, and Tailmon poked their heads out and were more than happy to join the search. It wasn't until they were beginning to get worried and headed for the Pokémon Center that they heard him.

"—_you doing in Vermillion?_"

"Couldn't describe it to you if I tried," Joey's voice answered. "Let's just say I'm trying to get some friends onto the SS Aqua."

They paused.

"_You're not going to try sneaking them on are you?_"

"What? No!"

"_Oh…_" Despite the earlier admonishing tone, the voice of the girl was clearly disappointed. "_Are you having any luck with it then?_"

"Well, we managed to get one. Hey, do you know anything about heart scales and the nurses at Pokémon centers?"

"…_Did you find a heart scale?_"

"Well no, but the girl's brother gave her one. He got it from a nurse somewhere in southwest Kanto."

"_Oh, well, yes. I was champion five years back, so why wouldn't I know about heart scales?_"

Joey sighed heavily. "The world goes a little deeper... Anyway, we managed to get one pass from the nurse. We're just stumped on what to do for the last one."

"_Eh? Don't you still have the pass I gave you? Why can't you hand it over to them? Your Fearow can take you wherever you need to go!_"

"That was a gift!"

"_And now it's time for you to gift it to someone else!_"

Joey gave up, thoroughly admonished. "Alright, alright… I'll talk you to again sometime. Thanks for checking up on…"

Joey had finally caught sight of them, and they were visibly unamused.

"_No problem. Make sure you call home!"_

_Click! Beep…Beep…Beep…_

Hikari crossed her arms. "You had a pass this whole time?"

He held his hands up defensively. "Remember when I said Team Rocket was disbanded by people who went on to become champions? I battled one of them when she was just starting out as a pokemon trainer, and I was only ten. We kept in touch as sparring partners, and some time after she became champion, she gave it to me as gift so I could leave Johto for the first time. I know you need it, but..."

Takeru gave a sympathetic smile. "But it's special, and important to you, right?"

Joey nodded quietly.

"Is it possible we could...I don't know. Leave it somewhere in Johto for you?"

Joey squinted suspiciously, and to their surprise, puffed out his cheeks. "You guys are the worst."

"Eh?"

"You thought I was just going to put you on a boat to Johto and leave it at that! Of course I'd hand it over easily if that were the case! But it isn't, and you didn't even consider that I might want to go with you, did you?"

They were caught. Joey had no reason to make the crossing to Johto with them, so they didn't think he would.

"It's not really your problem anymore, is it?" asked Takeru. "I'm still kind of pissed over what you did, but I'm also deeply grateful that you stayed with Hikari while she and Tailmon were alone in this world, and that you've continued to be our guide. We didn't think you would still be trying to atone..."

"Who's trying to atone? I want to go with you because of my own reasons. This world is _my_ world. Of course I would want to see what's happening to it, and what better way than to follow you two!"

Takeru frowned, unable to compose a retort. It wasn't as though he was wrong...

Hikari merely giggled. "It's what a trainer does, right?"

Joey snorted proudly. "That's right!"

"Alright, you're coming with us." She chewed at her lip. "That means we have a day left to figure out where to get another pass…"

The boy shuffled, and looked down at his feet. "If we don't find it, you can have mine. Just don't lose it or mess it up! Johto is my home, and I know what city the boat docks in. There are laws against tailgating vehicles of any kind with pokemon, but I'll see you on the other side."

Takeru and Hikari shared a nervous glance.

It didn't escape Joey's notice. "...You were planning to just follow the boat, weren't you."

Both their faces reddened, and they rambled off explanations over top of one another.

"Digimon and humans don't share a single world, so it didn't cross our minds-"

"The digital world doesn't even have 'laws' to speak of-"

"Yeah, you kinda just do whatever you gotta do."

"I guess it makes sense that there would be laws against things like that..."

Joey stared at them, feeling for the first time that they were just kids like him who were winging it without really knowing what they were doing. It was a little scary to think that such average people were saviors of some other world, but it also felt good. It felt attainable. Like maybe he might be able to help save the world too. And he couldn't help laughing.

It spread quickly, and for the first time since leaving Saffron City as a party, they all laughed together.


	27. Chapter 27

Things on Shimoshima were running much more smoothly with Mimi and Palmon present.

The first order of business that morning was been an exquisite breakfast. Rather, as exquisite as it could get when most of the supplies were non-perishable, frozen, or otherwise artificially long-lived. Because it was Mimi, and her sense of taste hadn't quite panned out into the territory of normal, this turned out to be miso soup, pork and scallion dumplings, and several stacks of pancakes. There was no syrup, so Mimi had blended sweet milk tea into the batter and created mildly sweet pancakes.

Palmon had taken a stack of pancakes and a handful of dumplings for herself and rounded everyone up for a group breakfast while she kept an eye on things in the lab. Naturally, Mimi's method was not entirely approved.

"What if we're attacked?" asked Noriko.

Mimi stood proudly over the spread in a makeshift apron, undaunted. "Sometimes it's important to stop worrying about being able to jump at the first sign of danger." She smiled gently. "Besides, today might be the last day you get to eat so well. Palmon will call us if anything happens. Please, just for an hour, enjoy it. "

"But what if—"

"**_Please_** enjoy it."

Mimi 's smile only widened, but they knew there was no arguing with her. They sat down and began with a somewhat timid 'thanks for the food'.

Despite the poor match of the items as a whole meal, each was actually very good eaten by itself.

Keiko was happy just to be able to leave her boring post by the entrance, but she suddenly found herself chattering to Mimi about selling tiny cakes made of the same batter as the pancakes, and perhaps trying light cheesecakes with that special ingredient added in. Mimi happily agreed, and looked forward to it being the special item at Keiko's future bakery.

The talk around the table was similarly light for the duration of the meal, but even the digimon had stuffed themselves after only twenty minutes.

Mimi set tea out for them, and took her seat at the head of the table. "I'm glad you are all more relaxed now. I didn't think we would take the full hour. Now that we're all full and a little less high-strung, I think we should talk about some of the things I've heard since I got here."

Koushiro, who had been quiet the whole meal, perked up. "That's…unusual initiative for you, Mimi."

She smiled sheepishly. "Don't get the wrong idea. It's not like I have an agenda or anything. I just think that everyone is trying so hard to be helpful that you're not actually sharing ideas with each other anymore. Everyone is trying very hard to lessen the burden on someone else. It's sweet and understandable but we must all share the burden together to be effective. Supporting each other is how we accomplish things as chosen children. It's the digidestined way!"

The absolute conviction in her voice was moving…but also comically serious given the content. They all laughed, and something in all of them loosened a little bit.

_We're going to be alright._

"Well then," Mimi continued brightly. "First order of business, I guess. Noriko-chan. You've been working on gathering up extra water so we can still do the important things later in the week. Brush our teeth, wash our clothes, take care of-" She coughed discreetly. "Other matters of personal hygiene. How are we on that?"

"Most of our buckets are full now, and we scrubbed out the tub and filled that too. We tried filling some bins, but the water pressure became a trickle in the middle of it. We won't be receiving anymore, so our water situation is as good as it's going to get. "

Mimi nodded. "Hiroshi, she had you working on limiting power drain . Any conclusions?"

"Drastic ones… Obviously the hallway lights are easiest to cut, and if we can cut out whole floors…" He gestured to the room around them, and the rest of the dorm beyond the common room door. "That might be for the best."

"No way. I heard how you guys have been sleeping lately and it's no wonder you're falling to bits. You need to sleep in beds, not in those uncomfortable lab cots or on the stone floor."

"But we need to keep watch and most of our work is happening in the lab and down in the basement right now."

"Then strip the frames and take mattresses where you need them. Two or three to the quiet room on the main floor, one for the basement. We'll move the food supplies to the quiet room too, and cut the whole dorm floor out. We don't have any windows, so I will be insisting that you leave me enough light to use the dryer, but in general I leave the light situation to you."

Noriko was a little skeptical, but she saw the reasoning. "That's a lot of work…but I see your point. What next?"

She nodded graciously. "Miyako, how is the power?"

"We're on our fourth cell. Today is the moment of truth when we will begin charging the used cells. If power flickers before..." She checked her watch. "Around 6 pm, we know that the drain is significant. It's mostly a chemical process, but I wouldn't be surprised if two or three hours were shaved off, but that's enough for us to keep burning them back to back until they give out on us. Koushiro has suggested we keep an eye on them if a week passes for such problems as overheating."

"And the emergency power you and Koushiro are working on?"

Miyako frowned, and Koushiro sagged tiredly in his seat.

"None of that!" Mimi smiled, brightly and bravely. "We're here to support you, remember?"

They returned sheepish but honest smiles. It was hard to be sad with her being so energetic.

"That's it. Please do your best and do not over exert yourself. That said…" She got up out of her seat and held away from the table. "It's time you took this seat, Koushiro. You have been holding back the most. Whatever you were going to tell Miyako, please tell all of us."

Koushiro stood, but hesitated to take the seat at the head of the table.

Mimi squeezed his shoulder. "Remember, Koushiro. We're in this together."

He met her eyes, and they were the same gentle, earnest eyes they'd been for several years now. A distant warmth spread across his face. His smile was small, but preemptively relieved. Things might be easier if he weren't walking around with so much unshared information.

Miyako snapped him out of it. "The suspense is killing us, Izumi!"

He plopped into his seat, aware that his face was growing redder. He was a little surprised that Miyako had the energy to be loud and entirely unfiltered, but it was good to see her be herself again.

"I guess it starts with a dream I had just before Hiroshi and Airdramon appeared..."

* * *

Had Taichi, Sora, or Mimi actually taken interest in what lay to the south at the junction between Ecruteak, Goldenrod, and Violet cities, they would have stumbled onto a scene that embodied everything they did not want the project to become. Every hour spent in debate of rules and regulations and every hard won fight to keep those with less than stellar intentions on the outside was profaned.

They also would have likely been killed in an effort to stop it.

Silver had no such righteousness in his blood. The digital world, while novel, did not interest him beyond why it was there.

He had approached the place where the Ruins of Alph once existed much as many others had. The unown that usually remained still, inscribed on the walls within, had gone into a frenzy several days before. Now they hovered in the air like letters on an unseen page, their cries resonating ceaselessly as they attempted to form a barrier between one world and the other.

But unown, while mysterious, were not known for their strength. In such large numbers they should have been dangerous, but they seemed far more interested in maintaining their barrier than preventing passage through it. It took little more than a gust to break their ranks.

On the other side, the barren, bizarre digital world lay stretched out forever. There were no trees and no shrubs, only the remains of some long-destroyed structure in the distance. Nothing to hide behind, or use for cover, or block the clear sight of the excessive number of bloody heaps that used to be trainers and pokemon. The initial overeager explorers had made the same mistake Joey had. The ones that followed simply hadn't exercised enough caution. Silver was no such case. He kept his body low at the crest of a dune and had not ventured far from the place his footsteps suddenly appeared in the sand. His jacket lay over his head, shielding him from the overbearing sun and covering his impossible-to-miss red hair from sight, and his weavile crouched at his back, watching in the other direction to be sure their escape route remained clear.

Creatures of unidentifiable species filled the area before him. They seemed to come in one of two equally hideous forms: A saggy gray quadruped of an extremely mangy nature that seemed to come with belts poking out of its tail and sometimes its spine in ways that defied biology and had to be painful, or a much smaller creature of a similarly gray and mangy nature whose mouth never closed, but remained open in a kind of twisted, snarling grin. Both breeds had more teeth than any creature could possibly need, and kept them occupied by filling the air with the sound of their insistent chewing and gnawing. Occasionally, their eyes would meet and they would slaughter one another as readily as they had the unfortunate humans they had reduced to mere piles of meat and bone. But in general, they seemed content to stare vacuously into the air and chew whatever they managed to sink their teeth into.

They were abnormal, that much was apparent even to Silver. Their flesh was too pale beneath their fur, the bodies too misshapen, their eyes too stupidly vacant. They were wrong somehow, whether it be disease or that they were some lab-born abominations. There were species of pokemon given to bad tempers, but few possessed the ability to go from zero to frenzy with such light provocation as these.

Silver held up his binoculars.

Though the distorted denizens of this place he found himself in had such an obvious tendency for extreme violence, most were unable to bite through a sufficiently hard surface. But they would continue to attack undeterred. It might almost look brave if they were not so obviously out for blood.

Someone had taken note and arranged a circle of bulky, tough-skinned pokemon some distance away from the barrier. Two ryhorn. A nidoking and nidoqueen. An onix and a lairon. A golem. Each had a little group of three or four attackers that they largely ignored. A crobat and a weezing hovered above them. At intervals, the weezing would spew obscuring smoke, and the crobat would dive in, grab a body, and fly back. After a few moments inside the circle, the body was tossed out unceremoniously and left to be feasted on. This repeated several times before the truth became obvious.

_Looting,_ Silver thought, his teeth grinding. _They're looting the bodies._

That wasn't the worst of it. Given his experiences and the type of pokemon being used, and the sinister nature of what he was seeing, he could only come to one thing. And he knew if he alerted his allies they would come to the same conclusion.

Team Rocket. Rearing its head yet again.

There was little he could do about it. Bounding in past the sheer number of creatures would most certainly get him killed, so he put his binoculars away, and turned his dour gaze back to where he'd entered from. He looked at his pokegear. Just as when he'd entered, the time was racing, and the radio was scrolling through station at breakneck speed. Even if he hadn't carefully silenced it before entering, it probably wouldn't have been able to make any noise with it going so quickly.

He backed away from the crest of the dune, and darted quickly back to the other side, breaking through a cloud of unown and landing firmly back in his own world. His pokegear mercifully resumed normal function, and he scrolled through his numbers as he recalled his weavile and released his honchkrow.

A click as she answered. Her breath coming in hasty, shallow breaths. _Talk fast._

"It's me. I'm at the Ruins of Alph. I don't know what I just saw, but we need to talk about it."

_Funny, I just left Ilex Forest and I'm feeling the same way._

"I'll be on the roof of the Goldenrod Department Store in an hour. Meet me there." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "We might need to call Blue, too."

_Already did. A legendary bird was attacking over Saffron City and I got a tip that he was there. He's busy checking up on something out west of Cinnabar Island right now. _A shuffling noise. The muffled sound as she covered the receiver to speak to someone else. A grave, authoritative tone in her voice that he didn't often hear. A warning, maybe. _I'm on my way. _

Silver was left listening to a dial tone as he sailed through the sky on his honchkrow, pondering just what the hell was going on.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I haven't actually figured out whether I'm going to refer to the second gen female character as Lyra, Kris, or Crystal. I'm shying away from the outright use of Pokemon Adventure canon, though I am mixing certain facets in (because the world/character backgrounds of Pokemon Adventure suit this genre far better than the games) but I'm thinking of just running Lyra and Kris through a blender and calling her Crystal.

Green will be as she is, though I may consider calling her Leaf to dodge that whole Green/Blue, Game vs Manga naming confusion (Blue is the female in the Japanese version of the manga, but most recognize Blue as the male rival to Red even though his name is Green in the Japanese version of the manga.)

...Yeah, Leaf, Red, and Blue. I'll get back to you on the Lyra/Kris/Crystal thing.


	28. Chapter 28

The sky above the Amakusa-nada Sea was as clear and blue as the water below. The heat was lessened by their altitude and Metalgreymon's speed, but Taichi could still feel that overbearing heat characteristic of the summer days of his childhood. In distant Tokyo, the white sidewalks would be almost glowing from the intensity of the sun. The grass would be on the dry, stiff side and every patch of open ground would explode into a cloud of dust if disturbed. It was the kind of day that made him think of the empty shed shells of cicadas and the distant cry of seagulls; and somewhere in the old, dark places in his mind where childhood guilt still lived, of his feverish little sister collapsed on the baking playground.

He lifted his head up to let the breeze calm him down. His sister was fine. She had Takeru to look after her. Sora was the problem at hand now. They had been traveling for a bit more than a day, he suspected. It was hard to tell with the changing times between the other world and the real world. They had come out of the other world to arrive home somewhere just along the western coast of Africa, and they had taken the opportunity to find a place to rest. Food had been…interesting. Agumon still had a vicious appetite, and that was only exacerbated by maintaining a form he could fly in, but they dared not land anywhere populated after Takeru's warning. Taichi was certain he must've broken some kind of law in doing so, but setting Greymon loose on an unsuspecting herd of whatever unlucky creatures they encountered was the quickest way to go about filling him. The last event like that had been somebody's cattle just outside of Shanghai, and he had been looking over his shoulder ever since. Passing through China's airspace had been a tense ride to begin with, and stealing some rural family's cattle—which could be their livelihood in places like that—had not made him feel better.

Mentally, he kicked himself yet again for not turning off any of his means of communication. They had all depleted their batteries by the time he left Cinnabar Island, and remained useless to him. It would have been so easy to just fly within range of a cellphone tower or a wireless connection and send Koushiro the message that way, but instead he had to take this dangerous, overlong journey. If the gates were all opened he could have easily shaved off several hours, but they were still closed for the project. Probably for the best, given the things he knew, but he kept thinking of Sora; the smell of her clothes burning against her skin and her singed hair. Yamato would never forgive him if something happened to her after he left her behind.

And he would certainly never forgive himself.

Metalgreymon surged forward below him as they crossed from flying over the sea to flying over the island, curving around the southwestern slopes. "Almost there, Taichi!"

Taichi smiled, daring to let just a little of his apprehension go.

* * *

Hiroshi could not help but feel antsy as he watched Mimi work at Koushiro's terminal.

Koushiro had told them all about Bene, the dreams, the origin of the mystery being trying to get its clutches around Alice's Door, and about his short time in the other world, Pal an Dia included. They had all agreed that not all of that information was good to be sent out to other digidestined. It was too much. Many of them didn't even know what the Dark Ocean was, and those few that had done their homework would only be unnecessarily alarmed. Sometime late last night, they had finalized the message and posted it to a feed used exclusively for inter-digidestined communication—something whipped up after the rather disorganized gathering process preceding the UN address some years back. It was at once a warning to stay hidden, an assurance that the missing were safe, an introduction to Amphimon and her tasks, and an apology for taking so long to get word to them.

The messages did not exactly flood in. Communication between the real and digital worlds could be a sketchy thing. As Hiroshi understood it, D-terminals could exchange messages freely, but it had been years since they were popular in Japan. Other countries probably never saw them become as popular. However, by morning, it became clear that several someones had received the message and were passing it on as rapidly as they could. Messages came in bursts of as many as ten at once, but never more, and never rapid fire. Identical Usernames and D-terminal registrations came up over and over again, but with different names attached. Wherever the other digidestined were hiding in the digital world, they were doing so in groups.

Mimi had very strictly put Koushiro back on his power task, and sat down to address the messages as they came. She had a habit of muttering phrases to herself, and her face as she read was extremely expressive, so it wasn't hard for Hiroshi to catch the pattern. Most of the e-mails were the questions one would expect: how long would it take, was Amphimon really able to handle the job, was there any way to help, would the gates end up closed down after this.

The last was especially worrisome, because it was hard to answer. Half the Earth, to the eyes of the average adult, was gone. Even if it was returned in perfect condition, and even if it was explained that it was never really gone, this wasn't going to be something the world would just let slip by. Even though Koushiro, Miyako, and Ken were working themselves to the bone to make sure all was set right and it wasn't even their fault...there would be consequences for this. Having the gates closed would be a slap on the wrist if that ended up being the only punishment.

It was a heavy, cloying reality that felt like cotton balls piling up in Hiroshi's lungs.

The other e-mails were a mix of what much of the world might have been feeling if they knew. Hope and encouragement, bewilderment and fear and the anger that results when such feelings meet.

It was touching in a way, but Hiroshi still felt restless. It was mostly the stress of the past few days spent trying to take as many things into account as possible. He was fraying his nerves and grasping at straws.

"Not to interrupt...but why haven't they cut that off yet? The cell phones and the internet... Why do we still have service after they cut the power and water off?"

Mimi looked up from the screen, her face more perplexed than concerned. "Isn't it because cutting power is easiest? They don't know we still have power, so why would they do something as specific as cutting service?"

"It's also specific to cut just our power and water."

"You're thinking like we're in Tokyo," said Noriko. She was standing in the doorway with Biyomon, her arms full of junk food that she dumped on the table for them. "Sorry to eavesdrop. You know how sound carries in the hall."

Hiroshi grabbed a bag of shrimp chips, ignorant to the vaguely disturbed expression that crossed Mimi's face when he opened the bag. "It's fine. What's your take on it?"

"I think they jut cut the whole island's power and water."

"Eh? What about the people?"

Noriko crossed her arms, and leaned her hip against the table. "What _about_ them? There are only a handful, most of them are older adults, elders, or extremely young children. People our age never want to stay in places like this. It wouldn't take that much more time to single us out, but in a rural place like this where most everyone probably has a well to get water from and are used to doing things the old-fashioned way, why bother? Cut it all, the residents won't miss it."

Biyomon hopped up into a chair, poking his beak into the snacks to find something sugary. "We can't know anything for certain. Not like any of us have been outside to see the situation."

Noriko nodded. "That's just my guess. If they realize we still have power a few days from now, and start messing with other services, that'll be a problem for then. In the mean time, just be glad."

She turned on her heel and walked out, leaving Hiroshi standing with his bag of shrimp chips, looking somewhat puzzled. "She seemed...irritated."

Mimi shrugged, and grabbed a green tea cake from the pile of treats. "All women can seem a little curt when they're in the middle of working hard, especially under stressful conditions. Best time to make your move though, show her you're reliable."

Her very matter-of-fact tone took Hiroshi off guard. "Move...?"

A tiny spark of the common sense that propelled every day life came through the haze of the past few days, reminding Hiroshi of his adolescence, and sending a bright blush across his face. "I don't think of Kawada like that!"

Mimi leaned back in her seat, smiling smugly. "So she's Kawada now? You usually call her by her first name."

"I call Kurata by her first name too! We're all just friends!" He looked to his partner. "Biyomon, please tell her we're all just friends!"

The bird digimon smiled, even though his beak was coated in the remains of several cookies. "Noriko already has someone she likes a lot. Hiroshi wouldn't have a chance with her even if he were interested. And Keiko intimidates him."

"Biyomon!"

"Yes?"

Hiroshi was trying to think of how to explain to Biyomon what was wrong with his choice of words, but between Mimi's completely failed attempts to not laugh and the look of blank ignorance to the crime on his partner's crumb-coated face...

He sighed and sulkily resumed stuffing his face with shrimp chips. "Forget it..."

Mimi was in the the middle of an apologetic smile. She seemed to be about to say something soothing, but something in the hall flashed yellow, silencing her and grabbing all of their attentions. When it flashed again, they all tensed, united by the same panicked thought:

_ Why is Keiko opening the front gate?_

The rest seemed to happen all at once.

A thunderous crash from above, powerful enough to send a rumble through the floor and cause Hiroshi to lose his footing. A cacophonous, echoing roar of metal being crushed coming from the hall. A roar of pain so deafening it could only come from a large digimon. The light in the room flickering and going out. Amphimon, half-materialized and making the most wretched gasping sound, jerking and writhing like a fish out of water. The click and buzz of the short-term power being switched to, keeping the computer and a spattering of dim emergency lights.

Hiroshi dashed out into the hall with Biyomon and Mimi at his heels. He looked both ways in a panic, not really seeing anything at first. There was too much happening. His blood was full of adrenaline, and his head was full of the panicked echoes of digimon and human rushing toward the commotion.

But then the realization came through, and his eyes settled, disbelieving despite seeing.

There was a shaft of sunlight spilling down the stairs to the top floor.

Koushiro and Tentomon rushed by them, darting into the main lab to check on the computer and Amphimon.

Miyako appeared shortly after them, and stopped in the light, grunting and squinting as her eyes adjusted. She saw them standing there, and made a furious shooing motion.

"Go! We'll handle the power, just go!"


	29. Chapter 29

Miyako's yell did not escape Keiko, though she only heard it as a muffled echo. The hole was obvious, so she kept away from it and stuck to her task. Her poncho came off, and she quickly hung it over Reppamon's mask, partially shielding him from the yellow pollen that puffed up into the air with every move they made.

The smell had come so thickly through the gate that Kudamon had picked up on it. That was mere moments before she peeked outside and saw MetalGreymon sinking rapidly toward the upper slope. By the time she got onto Reppamon's back, a Kuwagamon had slammed the weakened perfect level digimon into the side of the mountain. Trees and earth alike were flattened under his gigantic bulk, and the impact had shaken the mountainside. If there had been rain recently, a landslide would not have been odd at all.

MetalGreymon was gone now. All that was left was Koromon, groaning pitifully while Reppamon stood over him, sheltering him in case of further attacks. Taichi was beside him, scraped and bruised and bleeding furiously from where his arm had been gouged by a broken branch.

"Damn it," he hissed. "I don't have time for this. You've gotta get me to Koushiro!"

Keiko wasn't used to seeing Taichi so upset. "Uh... I..." She shook her head, and got control of herself. "What I have to do is stay here and keep you safe until Mimi and Hiroshi get here."

"Mimi? Mimi made it back here already?"

"Ken brought her back yesterday. Have you not seen the message?"

His expression made it obvious he hadn't.

Keiko glanced back to the hole in the side of the mountain. MetalGreymon must have crushed a part of the ceiling structure with the sudden impact of several tons of dinosaur. Up in the sky, Kuwagamon was still buzzing in circles. As far as Keiko knew, Kuwagamon didn't have pollen attacks, so how was there so much all over the ground?

"Keiko!"

Aidramon sailed in low, depositing Mimi, Palmon, and Hiroshi. Mimi immediately went to Taichi's side, but Hiroshi went to Keiko, gesturing at the goldenrod colored dust coating everything.

"What is this stuff?"

"No idea. Kuwagamon don't rain pollen, do they?"

"It's not from Kuwagamon," Palmon interjected, her violet tongue sliding along her yellow-coated vines. "This is from a Floramon. I'm okay, but Reppamon and Aidramon should get out of it. Floramon pollen sucks out a digimon's will to fight."

Keiko nodded, and got her shoulder under Taichi's, lifting her damaged elder to his feet. "Come on. The hole is here, so we might as well use it for now."

Kuwagamon made a rough landing over the the recently created entrance, blocking their escape and causing a little more debris to fall through. From inside, Miyako could be heard swearing loudly. A small girl who couldn't have been more than seven or eight sat on it's back. She was deeply and evenly tanned from regular activity in the sun, but her shoulders, like Taichi's, showed signs of burning. Wherever she had come from, she had come a long way.

She stood on Kuwagamon's head, short hair just barely swaying in the summer breeze. "I'm here for Izumi Koushiro-san!"

A Kyushu accent tinged her voice.

Mimi stepped forward. "Who are you, and what do you want with Koushiro?"

"I'm—"

A shrill voice shouted from behind them. "Megumi! Don't just tell them who we are!"

They turned to see a slightly older girl crouching in the woods with a Kiwimon. Her cover exposed, she stepped out. She was tanned and had the same accent, but she shared no other similarities with the girl on the Kuwagamon.

'Megumi', visibly embarrassed at the suggestion that she messed up, shouted back. "You just told them my name! Stupid Aoi!"

They dissolved into heated bickering, completely forgetting...whatever it was they were there to do.

Keiko glanced at Taichi. "Yagami... These kids are idiots. How exactly did you end up in this condition...?"

"The last time we stopped for food was Shanghai," Taichi growled defensively. "And we weren't expecting to have to fight other digimon."

Mimi shushed them both. Her brows were drawn together in the way they often did when she suspected things were not as they seemed. Their attackers were so young, and it seemed terribly clear to her that they didn't have a clue what they were doing. "Megumi-chan. Aoi-chan. You're chosen children too, so why are you attacking us? What's wrong?"

Aoi crossed her arms. "What makes you think anything is wrong? We're just here for Koushiro."

"And what do you intend to do with him?"

"Take him to the police!"

Mimi squinted, doing her best to not let her incredulity show. "Koushiro hasn't done anything wrong. Have you not seen the messages we sent out? The part of the world that's gone isn't accessible, but it's safe."

Megumi piped up, her eyes wide and sparkling. "Really?!"

"Megumi!" Aoi hissed. "She's lying!"

"I would never. Some of our loved ones and many other chosen children are on the other side. We know they're safe, and we know how to get everything back to normal. We're working on it, I promise you."

Megumi seemed to be on the verge of confused tears, but she was standing her ground on shivering legs.

The older girl was not entirely convinced, and Taichi said nothing. He recognized that look on Mimi's face. As she had gotten older and sweeter and more social, she had picked up a temper like no other, and when it flared, it was best to just step back. She gave her digivice a squeeze, and the two children stopped bickering immediately, stunned into silence by the sudden presence of Togemon. A defiant scowl had rooted on her face.

"I'm not going to go easy on you if you're here to hurt my friends. Togemon!"

The cactus digimon rushed forward, her giant red punching glove at the ready. Kuwagamon took the hit, refusing to leave the hole open for them to escape to, and interlocked his massive pincers around Togemon's body.

Keiko looked up to Reppamon. "Are you okay? Can you get us back down to the main entrance? We should still have three minutes or so."

"Yeah. Feeling a little woozy, but I should be okay." He scooped Koromon toward his partner, crouching down. "Let's go."

Ignoring Taichi's jumbled swears, Keiko slung Taichi over Reppamon's back, hefted Koromon, and hopped on. In the corner of her eye, she saw the Kiwimon darting forward to stop them, and heard the distinct metallic whirr as Reppamon's tail cut through the air, nearly chopping the tip of its beak off. While it was still stunned, Reppamon leaped right over it's head and took off down the slope. They could hear Aidramon boasting, no doubt as he blocked the way to let them escape.

Keiko kept her eyes forward, but she kept replaying the past few minutes over and over in her head. Nothing made sense. The girls were clearly familiar with each other, but they didn't appear to be blood related. They were from somewhere on Kyushu's mainland, and had to have been flying at least three or four hours to be burned the way they were, but there was something else. They looked dirty, and more than a little desperate. Today might not be their first day here. And their digimon... Using a child level skill like Floramon's pollen on a perfect level was insanity under normal circumstances. Taichi and Koromon were both visibly burned out up close, but there was no way those girls could have known MetalGreymon was already in a weakened state. They were just lucky beginners who didn't really know what they were doing, and weren't afraid to try things a more seasoned fighter would have thought to be useless.

She glanced at the branch still bulging under Taichi's skin, and grimaced. _Lucky indeed..._

But their obvious lack of experience only raised more questions. They had to know they'd be outnumbered, so what were they doing here, and why were they asking for Koushiro?

Reppamon came to a jarring stop. His paws stuttered violently against the pollen-covered ground, nearly tossing them all forward. His growl resonated on the still air, the rumble alerting his partner that something was amiss.

The main entrance could only be opened by two means: the manual control, which had to come from inside, or one of three remotes that only belonged to Miyako, Koushiro, and Ken. When opened manually, as Keiko had done, it was supposed to close on it's own after ten minutes. They had not come too late, but there was a dirty suit at the entrance. The bottom half of his face was covered in the beginnings of a thick beard, and his cheeks were somewhat sallow under his red-rimmed eyes. His suit was covered in cuts and tears, and there were dark stains of blood on the white shirt beneath it. All that stood in his way was Noriko.

Both noticed that they were no longer alone, though they didn't break eye contact for even a second.

Keiko touched the armlet engraved with the symbol of courage, readying herself. "Who are you?"

A wry smile touched Noriko's lips. "He's the one responsible for the first aid Izumi-san's face needed when he first arrived. As you can see, he's been out here awhile."

"Reppamon can-"

Noriko held her hand up, and shook her head slowly. "Don't. He looks rough, but he's very coherent, and so far he doesn't seem half so willing to hurt me as Smith was."

"I'm not here for brats." He took a glance at Keiko. "Unless you had some involvement in the development."

Keiko glared. "All chosen children were involved in the Project."

"As support, maybe. You don't look like you could understand any programming more complicated than a calculator. In fact, you look like you should be in Tokyo somewhere, eating pastries and reading fashion magazines, or whatever the hell girls your age do..." His eyes fell to the wounded man glaring at him over Keiko's shoulder. His eyes clouded for a moment, as though he was coming to a realization he couldn't quite wrap his mind around yet.

A yellow light flashed under the half-opened gate, brightening Noriko's back. The gate began to grind downward.

She shouted. "Go!"

Reppamon's surged forward. It was a short distance, but he was a large digimon, and had to crouch to get in. By the time he realized Keiko was not among his passengers anymore, it was too late to go back for her. He howled, scratching and banging desperately at the heavily enforced gate, his tail pinging off the granite walls.

From the other side, Keiko snarled. "Stop that before you break it! Taichi has a message for Koushiro and needs medical attention, so get him where he needs to go!"

A pause, and the fading click of claws on granite told her he was on his way. That left her and Noriko alone with the mystery man, who was wearing a deep scowl.

He sighed in a way that suggested he was more tired than anything, and both girls took it as a sign to run up the slope, back to where the fight was. If he had been on the mountain as long as they thought he had, maybe he wouldn't have the energy to catch them. They would have been very wrong, if not for a single red and yellow feather that cut through the air and took a yet another slice out of the man's suit and the leg beneath it, leaving him hobbling and glaring into the treetops.


	30. Chapter 30

The fight above was not over, but it was far from exciting.

Togemon could not release her needles with Mimi and Kuwagamon's partner Megumi in such close range, but she didn't need them. Megumi was hesitant to go all out, and Kuwagamon's actions reflected that. He had her squeezed between his enormous pincers, but he was not actually attempt to crush her. Instead, he seemed to be attempting to push her back or somehow overpower her. This shouldn't have been difficult seeing as he could fly, but neither partner nor digimon had the sense to realize Megumi being on Kuwagamon's back was hindering his ability to do anything but take hits. It was a battle of attrition that would end when the insect digimon couldn't take anymore of Togemon's punches.

Kiwimon and Aoi were the opposite; extremely aggressive, but overcautious to the point of cowardice. Kiwimon wasn't afraid to go for the throat of the matter if there was an opportunity, but the moment Airdramon swooped anywhere near the ground or even gave the impression that he'd counter, she ran away. All Airdramon had to do was fly in a circle around her and it kept her running back and forth, so wrapped up in not providing any openings that she was left unable to go on the offense.

Mimi and Hiroshi were standing back to back, watching their equally boring battles occur with similar expressions of vaguely confused shame.

Noriko and Keiko appearing on the scene did not change anything. The girls ignored them entirely even though they were obvious targets without digimon to protect them. After just a few moments watching the spectacle, their faces bore a similarly guilty expression.

Each thought the same thing: _It feels like we're bullying them..._

Noriko made a winding motion with her hand and called out. "Wrap this up. Taichi's safe, but we're not the only ones out here, and I don't want to end up at gun-point again."

Both Mimi and Hiroshi nodded, and called out to their digimon, who finished their fights as quickly as they were ordered to. All they left behind were the two frightened girls and equally frightened child digimon, Kunemon and Floramon.

To her credit, Aoi hugged Floramon to her, putting herself in the way of any further assault even though she was shaking like a leaf. Megumi, on the other hand, was done with her attempts to be brave. She immediately started to wail, unintelligibly apologizing and begging them not to hurt Kunemon.

To Mimi's surprise, Hiroshi made his move even before she could. He stopped just far enough back to not further frighten her, and spoke softly. "We aren't going to hurt you. We never wanted to in the first place. Trust me."

From the other side of the slope, Aoi shouted. "We have no reason to trust you!"

Hiroshi scowled, and shouted back at her. "Stop that! Stop being so stubborn! Do you even realize you sent your partners up against a Perfect level digimon with a history of battle much longer than your own? That the only reason you got over like you did was because he's been flying for days to get here? What did you intend to do if he didn't devolve? He could've killed them both!"

The girl's lip began to shake, her small fists gripping at the folds of her sundress. Her face was a bright red scowl as she fought back tears.

Megumi darted at Hiroshi, knocking the wind out of him as she bawled into his side. "Don't yell at Aoi! She was just trying to help!"

"Help who? We can't help if you don't tell us what's going on."

Both girls were quiet; visibly fighting with whether or not to trust them with the truth.

It was Megumi's partner Kunemon who finally spoke up. "Kokonoe. We came from Kokonoe, in the Oita prefecture."

"That's the other side of Kyushu. Why did you come all this way?"

"In all of Kokonoe there are maybe thirty chosen children. Most of the computers are only found in libraries, so it's a very public event to receive a digivice, and talk spreads quickly." He fidgeted, seemingly unsure of how to proceed. "The adults didn't know what to do... They blamed the children for the disaster."

At any other time, there would have been a deep, disturbed silence, but Keiko coughed loudly, startling them all. "Sorry. That is very serious, but I don't know if Noriko made it clear enough. There's another person on this mountain. A man. With a gun. Can we _please_—"

The sound of the click was as subtle as a snapped twig, but they all heard it. Noriko and Keiko didn't even dare to breathe as they turned around.

He was there, just as they worried he would be, exhausted, filthy, glaring...and bleeding. Without even looking at the two of them, he passed them by, limping his way toward Mimi. He was peering at her in the same peculiar way he had looked at Taichi.

Palmon held her vines up defensively, but he largely ignored her too.

His voice was deep, almost a growl in comparison to the casually annoyed tone he had taken with Noriko and Keiko. "Tachikawa Mimi. Age 20. Member of the original eight digidestined. Partner: Palmon. Project participation: Early Funding. Final Phase participation..."

"Tibet and India," Mimi finished, visibly annoyed. _Sure, just go around talking about a young girl's age like that...  
_

"Yagami Taichi. Age 21—"

Mimi clicked her tongue impatiently. "Shut up, already! Yes, Taichi was in Africa! That's your point, isn't it?"

"They're gone. Both those places are gone. How are you back?"

"It's a long story full of technical jargon involving data from digimon we had to destroy in the past." Her scowl deepened. "You're welcome to come in and we can sit down and talk about this after we're done here_,_ but right now we've got a situation on our hands involving two very young, very frightened children. "

"Actually," Noriko interjected. "That's the guy who interrogated Koushiro. I don't think we want to invite him in for anything."

Mimi's glare flicked to Noriko. "Of course we do! He acted for the exact same reason the people in Kokonoe have. Something they don't understand has happened. They're confused and afraid. They think they've lost something because they've been separated from it, and they don't know who to blame, so they accept the first obvious suspects even if they know better in their hearts and follow up by doing something stupid and unhelpful."

"Screw him!"

They turned. Miyako had clawed her way up out of the hole. She was filthy and disheveled for it, and some of her fingers were bleeding. She looked scarcely less deranged than the man she pointed at so accusingly. "Look at him! He must have been skulking around on this island for days just trying to find Koushiro! Those aren't the actions of a sane human being! Who's to say he won't come in and put bullets in the computer at the first opportunity?!"

The man put his gun away, perhaps as a sign of good faith. "I think your partner would tell you I'm perfectly sane."

Miyako's face twitched. "...Hawkmon?" Her eyes went wide and watery behind her dusty glasses. "What did you do to him...?"

He sighed, not even bothering to hide his irritation. "What is that? I'm a human and I'm standing here looking like I've been assailed by every animal on the mountain. Hell, I'm _bleeding_ as we speak, and yet you immediately assume _I'm_ the one who did something... He's fine." He looked behind him, into the canopy. "Are you waiting for a dramatic moment to appear or something? Not like I can shoot you with my gun put away."

"Wouldn't matter even if you had it in your hand." Hawkmon dropped down from the canopy, but it wasn't at all from the direction the man was looking in. He landed beside his partner, as he thought he should. Like his adversary, he looked haggard and disheveled. "You haven't had bullets in days."

Miyako dropped to hug him, tears streaming down her dirty, pollen-dusted cheeks as she slumped to the ground. "Where've you been?!" Her usual angry dialogue streamed out of her, but it lacked the fire Hawkmon was used to. The only thing that really struck him were the tiny, relieved sobs so quiet that only he could hear. "I was...so worried..."

Despite being happy to see her, Hawkmon found himself blushing. "My apologies, Miyako-san."

With that, she was able to get some of the conviction back to her voice. "Damn right you're sorry." She stood up, still holding onto him, and gave short, sharp looks to the interrogator and the children alike before gesturing widely toward the hole. "Get inside."

* * *

The children's tale was short and even uglier as it sounded. All of the Kokonoe children were too young to have been at the UN address, and neither Megumi nor Aoi even knew there had been such a thing. They only knew the project existed in the first place second hand, from gossip and tourists and some of their more knowledgeable partner digimon. The story of the summer of 1999 in Odaiba was a bedtime story to them; something their parents told them about when they wondered why they had suddenly received a digivice. 2002, being a far more active year on a global scale, was relatively common knowledge even among the younger children, but they were mere observers. They had no idea why they had partners. It was, to them, something that just happened after awhile if you spent enough time on a computer.

Before the news came in, all of the children with digivices had made a field trip to Mt. Aso, hoping to meet their partners at the newly opened gate. Not all of the digimon had appeared—both girls had seemed strangely troubled by this, and Miyako had quickly explained that the digital world was dangerous, and young digimon generally stayed in Primary Village for their own safety—but their parents had insisted that they need to get back home. By the time they did, things were different.

The parents were unconvinced. They knew their children, and the young digimon were quirky, but not obviously dangerous. Their children could not possibly be behind something like making half the world disappear. The other adults had to think of it much the same, but panic spread dangerously, and soon any child with a digivice was thought of as an outsider, and any family or friend they had received the same treatment. It was uncertain who exactly alerted them, but someone became aware of the early message that digidestined should go to the digital world. The town had gone crazy after that. Children were taken away from their parents, and partners from their digimon. They were kept under watch, and treated as dangerous. Nobody had beaten or hurt any of them, but they were not well treated. That was assured to get worse by the day as the fear piled on and it became more and more acceptable to hate them.

The saving grace had been that Koushiro kept the general data so public. Some parent had taken the time to do the research, and had gone about shifting the blame as best they could. That was how Megumi and Aoi had ended up there, far from home, taking risky bets on their digimon's abilities.

They didn't even know what Koushiro looked like. When they saw the skinny redhead fussing over Taichi and Koromon with medical supplies, they had no reaction until they were told.

Hawkmon called the interrogator Shin, and Shin didn't really seem to care. Unlike Smith, he did not seem particularly keen to hide his identity. The two of them had a far less pressing tale to tell. Hawkmon had successfully crossed over into the human world right after the gate was downloaded, much as Tentomon had. However, he had not anticipated that Miyako would leave the area so quickly. He knew his way, in the most general sense, so he had flown to Shimoshima on his own. He didn't particularly know one rock from the other when it came to finding the entrance, and his circling had inevitably brought him upon Shin. From Hawkmon's point of view, he was just a lost human, but Shin had made it abundantly clear within minutes of their meeting that he knew who Miyako and Koushiro were and was hostile. The past few days had been a ceaseless fight between the two of them as they stumbled through the mountains; each lost as could be, trying to alternately slow the other down with non-fatal damage and follow them in hopes of reaching their destination at the same time. Both had seen the children around, but had no idea who they were and had ignored them.

That was where the bad news began.

Metalgreymon's landing had taken done more than take out the power for a moment. The battery inside the machine had been destroyed. The upside was that the machine, while damaged, was still in functioning order, but their time was that much shorter. The first recharging cycle had chipped nearly three hours from their power. Then again, that had been while charging two cells, and that was no longer an option. One of their charging stations had been crushed when Metalgreymon let sunlight in.

Amphimon had been sucked back to corporeality in the physical world by the loss of power. The drain of her existence was too much for the emergency power, and she had nearly been split across the worlds. She sat shivering on the desk as though she had been rescued from some great disaster. The plugs and cords she'd had in her skin for days lay beside her; useless. While she was out of the way, the being from the Dark Ocean had passed through. Miyako had fixed the power as quickly as she could, but not quick enough to prevent it, and Amphimon had no idea where it had passed to.

And then there was Taichi. Taichi and his news of the other world. Of the people and pokémon. Of the capturing mechanisms that could turn digimon into monsters. Of humans on that side being able to enter the digital world at will, and the damage they might cause to one another out of pure ignorance. Of Sora, hurt and left behind because the message couldn't wait.

Koushiro looked to the interrogator. He tried to smile, but it came out a sour, cynical half-smirk entirely too unlike him to hide how close he was to falling apart. "And you thought I did this on purpose."


	31. Chapter 31

Miyako, perhaps sensing Koushiro's weariness, took point. "No time to sit around. A lot just happened, and we don't have the option of doing nothing."

Taichi rose to his feet, holding his bandaged arm. "I wish I could help...but I need—"

"To lay your stubborn ass down, Yagami," Mimi finished. "Koromon isn't going anywhere for at least a few hours, and neither are you."

"But Sora—"

"Is fine. You would never leave her anywhere if you thought she wouldn't be safe for at least a few days." Her eyes flicked to Koushiro. "You lay down too. You look terrible."

He sighed, and echoed Miyako's words. "There's no time right now."

A fist formed at her side. "Why is everyone so against admitting when they're tired around here? I understand we're in crisis, but this is a decision we can make without you. Go with Taichi, and just take a moment to breathe. We will need you soon enough."

Koushiro took an involuntary step back, and shared a nervous glance with Taichi. Mimi could get a little unpredictable when she got frustrated. He chose his words carefully, daring to just meet Mimi's fiercely bright eyes. "I have a right... no, a responsibility to give my input. I won't leave until the decisions are made." He held his crest. "I'm a digidestined too. So is Taichi. We share the burden."

Mimi stared at him, and glanced to the side, where Megumi and Aoi were looking on in awe. She crossed her arms, and nodded graciously. "Now you're back in the right frame of mind. Any ideas?"

Miyako took point again. "The easiest first. Amphimon?"

A faint nod. "I'm okay. Rattled by the power thing, but I can work fine."

"Don't be like Koushiro. Rest. You can't fight on our behalf anymore with the enemy gone, so you're going to be putting all your energy into gathering the rest of the stray data. We need that gone so we'll be ready when the others come back. We'll decide what happens with you after that. Koushiro, any objections?"

"None."

"Good, next issue." She set her hands on the children's shoulders. "Our juniors are being holed up somewhere. We can't let that slide. Someone has to help them."

Hiroshi and Biyomon held up their hands. "We'll go."

"That's stupid," Keiko said flatly. "I should be the one to go."

Kudamon agreed. "As Tyilinmon, I can rescue them all before anyone even notices they're gone."

Noriko shook her head. "That's precisely why you should stay here. You're the only one suited for protecting the building now. I would love for you to go with him as back up, but..." She knelt in front of the girls, her stern eyes meeting their wide ones, appealing not as an elder, but as a peer. "You two will be the only help he has, so when he forms a plan, listen to him, and don't be afraid. He knows a lot about digimon, and Biyomon is strong. They will make sure you and your friends are safe. Okay?"

Megumi and Aoi's hands clasped together, each using the other to steady themselves. They nodded.

For a moment, there was a silence in the lab, as they weighed the most serious problem of them all. Outsiders in their digital world. With devices that could hold turn living creatures into data and reassemble them, but invariably seemed to put digimon back the wrong way. To the detriment of all. They scanned each other's faces, each looking for someone else to have an idea.

Koushiro tapped his foot, his brows drawn together anxiously. The answer was obvious, but the implications were not something he wanted floating around with Shin present.

Miyako broke the silence with a sigh, and removed her glasses. "Ken would definitely tell us to do what needs doing." She rubbed at her eyes. "All the digidestined north of the binary wall are gathered up near the gates. The only thing we can do...is send them south through the digital world. We have to keep these trainers out. They don't know what they're doing, and we already saw with Iori that some of them are getting themselves killed out there."

Taichi lifted his head. "Iori is back too?"

Tentomon shook his head, and gestured to the timeline on the whiteboard. "He crossed to the digital world and got in contact with us early on. The sands outside Full Metal City are connected to an ocean in the other world. People were...buried alive. He would have been too, if not for Digmon."

Shin sat heavily in an open seat. Even in his tattered and beaten state, his presence was imposing enough to easily break into their conversation. "You're basically suggesting open war with a world we know nothing about."

Noriko sniffed. "She's suggesting we defend our boundaries. Or is it okay to let humans and digimon alike keep dying? We go to the gates where they're getting in. We tell them to turn back, and we fight if they don't. Have you considered that they might be able to get into our world too?"

Amphimon slowly shook her head side to side. "That is impossible. The only reason they can even get into the digital world is because they technically have partners. Bene took great pains to make sure your world and the other world were kept separated."

"But that does mean they can go as far into the digital world as they please, doesn't it? 'The digital world sits next to too many other worlds to allow the free coming and going of entities unfamiliar with it'. That was the thought that drove us to make the gates selective entry in the first place. Partners or no, these trainers are unfamiliar with the digital world and we need to keep them out."

Mimi rested a hand on Noriko's shoulder. "I agree with Kawada. I've been on that side, and I did some battling. Their system works in their world, but if pokéballs really have that kind of effect on digimon, we have to defend it. I know personally that, if it comes down to it, we can be assured they'll leave so long as we win."

"If we win." Palmon looked at Floramon and Kunemon. "But how many of the chosen children out there are young and have partners like these? They're used to peace, and inexperienced. We would be putting them all in danger to ask them to fight."

"That just means we need to give them good leaders." Mimi looked to Taichi. "You and I are the best we have to head the force right now."

Taichi's eyes darkened. He wanted to scream at her, but he knew she was right. He knew it, and he knew what he had to do, but he ground his teeth at the very thought.

Miyako frowned sympathetically. It was impossible to not know what Taichi must be thinking; he had been very single-minded about it since his arrival. She looked down at Hawkmon. "I'll go get Sora in your place, Taichi."

Noriko raised a brow. "Inoue-san, with the power issue now a little more dire... Is that wise?"

Koushiro and Miyako shared a look, and whatever was going through the latter's mind, Koushiro seemed to agree with. "We can no longer operate under the assumption that we'll find an answer to that problem in a timely fashion. Getting as much as we can accomplished while we know we still have power is the priority now."

Taichi nodded stiffly. "Thank you, Miyako."

"Anytime. I'll get directions from you before you head out. Just rest for now."

With that, the planning was done. All that was left was action. They split in different directions, each to rest or ready themselves for all that they had to do.

Noriko grabbed Mimi, Koushiro, and Miyako and took them aside, signaling for their digimon to follow. She lead them out into the hall and up in the ruined, crumbling room where echoes were no longer liable to work their way to listening ears. She shut the door, and crossed her arms, the summer sunlight almost blinding after sitting in the gently lit computer lab.

"Tachikawa-san, I think you should stay here."

The older girl swayed on the heels of her boots. She didn't know what she'd been expecting from Noriko, but that wasn't it. "I'm one of the original digidestined, so it's best if I go help the others fight, isn't it?"

"Ordinarily, yes, but you're also the only one who knows anything about how the other world works. You're the knowledgeable one on that topic, so you need to stay where you can communicate if any questions arise. There also needs to be an effort to close this hole up, and get all this dirt out of here." She turned to Tentomon and Palmon. "Kabuterimon's arms are thin enough to scoop the debris out from the outside without enlarging the hole, and Togemon is the right size to knock some trees down and put them in place as a covering."

Koushiro nodded. "We will also need something like support beams if we don't want to risk the whole thing coming down."

Miyako raised a brow. "This is all good planning, but why I am here? I don't think Taichi is going to accept it if you tell me I need to stay."

"He wouldn't, but that's not it. This is the other reason Tachikawa-san should stay. I'm going with you, Inoue."

"But... It'll be dangerous." The older girl fidgeted, trying to think of how to tactfully remind Noriko she was without her partner.

Noriko held her hand up. "I know, but I have a particular goal. I want you to take me to where the Habomai islands would be. I'm worried about Kido-san. If you can cross back into our world so easily just by heading in the direction of the real world and coming through the binary wall, he should have made it back by now. Once I find him, you're free to leave and look for Sora. I'll head to the Morzhovets Island anchor with him, fill him in, and we'll keep trainers out from there."

Koushiro was the only one who seemed put off by this idea. In fact, he seemed on the verge of panic. "Take the lab coats," he urged. "Take as many of them as you need. Scarves and things we might have laying around...take them all. The both of you. And take medicine. Wherever Jyou went, it was cold there. " He turned away, suddenly aware that his eyes were watering.

Miyako dared to lay a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "It's okay, Koushiro. We'll come back safe. We'll all come back safe."

He blushed, confused and irritated by how strangely, overwhelmingly helpless he felt. Dimly, he thought that Miyako must have been feeling this way without Hawkmon. Unable to do anything to fight, when there was so much that needed protecting.

He grasped her hand, but said nothing.

* * *

Somewhere, in space so old that even myth and legend had long forgotten it, the gold one and the white one held hushed conversation, separated by the thinnest of veils between worlds. At the white ones feet lay an egg, not of either human world. Nor was it quite of the digital world, though the creature inside had once walked it.

Something rumbled in the distance, and white one lurched uneasily, its world disturbed. The golden one sighed, and dipped the many golden spines atop its head_. _It assured the white one again of its intentions, that they would both benefit if the egg hatched in the correct hands.

What exactly was meant by 'the correct hands', neither entity spoke of.

The rumbling in the white ones world increased, and both watched a great darkness spread like ink over his world and disappear.


	32. Chapter 32

A chill ran up Daisuke's spine.

He searched, but his surroundings hadn't changed. The seaweed still swayed peacefully on the wall where he hadn't pulled them, and the bag of it strapped to his hip was undisturbed. He unclipped his D3 from his goggles, but it was quiet. Nothing had changed. He had never grown out of the straight-forward approach—the one that had landed him in Sootopolis in the first place—but every now and again his sense of danger imposed caution on him. With a few deft kicks, he surfaced. So much of the past few days had been spent in the water that he no longer gasped for breath.

As little was amiss above the water as it was below. The sky above the crater was light, but not particularly bright. It was cloudy, but even on a clear day, the sun would not have peeked into the crater just yet. Kiri was enjoying a late morning swim, as were several elderly types who swore by the frigid routine as the source of their good health. The trainee divers were exercising, and the veterans were already far below the water, conducting their business as expected. Nothing was out of place, but Daisuke was not alone in his anxiety.

V-mon was staring in Daisuke's general direction, his broom idling in one hand.

Daisuke waved, and V-mon returned the gesture. Apparently satisfied, the digimon got back to work.

"Maybe there's a storm coming" Daisuke sighed.

After a deep breath, he re-submerged. He continued to pull the fully grown seaweed, but he still felt uneasy. Something wasn't right. The currents were off somehow. He looked below, and after a moment, it came to him.

The sea below him was empty. The thriving schools of magikarp and goldeen, and the idling tentacool were entirely absent.

_The hell...?_

Something glinted far below him, and shortly after, the floor of the crater lit extravagantly. Chinchou and lanturn raced for the surface with the divers in tow. The meager light of the sky filtering below the water was entirely dispersed as they raced beyond Daisuke and broke the surface, churning it to froth. He could hear the divers shouting, and saw their legs flailing for the shores. He looked back down. The initial glitter hadn't disappeared. In fact, it had doubled, and a current began to tug Daisuke away from the gripped at the seaweed, but it wasn't enough. With the currents all flowing in one direction, they failed to entangle him as they usually would. Because he had pulled them from above, there was nothing for him to use to pull himself to the surface. He held onto his breath as best as he could while being sucked toward an increasingly visible funnel. His heart all but froze in his chest. A whirlpool. If he got sucked in, he would certainly die.

The seaweed in his hands detached from the wall, and he was swept into the currents, toward through growing vortex. Without warning, the water changed direction. The vortex collapsed in on itself, and the next thing he knew he was blinded by bubbles sliding against his goggles. Something rushed by him on his way to the surface, slapping him around with rough, cartilaginous fins. The current created by it's passing hit him like a cannonball. The force crushed the air from his lungs and propelled him up; up so far he couldn't possibly still be under water.

Water began flowing against him, parting enough for him to gasp in air, but not enough that he didn't inhale enough for a coughing fit. He squinted, and realized he was cold. The water had receded and he was dangerously high in the open air in the center of the crater.

_Gyaaaaoooooor!_

Writhing above him, twisting to prepare for its dive was a long, blue monstrosity with scales so large he could only think of them as plates. The open-mouthed snarl it wore rivaled the malicious, skeletal grin he had only ever seen once, on SkullGreymon, and raised goosebumps all over his body.

_Gyarados...!_

And yet, there was something more horrific than the monster sea dragon in front of him. On the other side of it, the small frame of a girl was reaching the peak of its ascension—a dainty chinchou-blue bathing suit and a mop of dark, wet hair seemingly floating in midair.

Daisuke felt his own body falling prey to gravity. He grabbed for his D3, and looked down at the pokémon center.

"V-MON!"

A glitter lit the shoreline. Gyarados' tail slapped Daisuke aside just as carelessly as before, and he spun in the air before thudding against ExVeemon's back.

"Are you ok, Daisuke?"

"Yeah..." Daisuke groaned. "Kiri! Where's Kiri?!"

"I've got her." ExVeemon darted down to the pokémon center, where he made a soft landing and laid Kiri's body gently onto the grass. Gyarados hit the water, and didn't resurface.

Daisuke hopped down, and leaned his head close to her mouth.

"Daisuke!" The head diver bellowed. "Daisuke! Is Kiri alright?"

He sat up. "Yeah, she's breathing."

The man sighed heavily, and knelt down to gently smack at Kiri's cheeks. She grunted, and stubbornly rolled over, coughing up small drops of water. "Good thing your pokémon evolved when it did. It saved both your lives."

Daisuke smiled nervously. "Yeah... What happened down there anyway? Did you guys accidentally stir that thing up?"

"Of course not!" He looked out at the water. "We don't know. It just went crazy."

A fireball shot out of the water, and collided with ExVeemon before he could think to dodge. It pushed him back, but he was able to shake it off without much effort.

Gyarados was a different matter altogether. It slithered onto the land and battered at Exveemon with every part of its body until the beleaguered digimon was backed against the wall of the caldera.

"Daisuke!" He shouted. "Get Kiri away from here!"

The divers all responded the same way. "It talks…!"

"Bigger issues right now!" Daisuke growled at them, hefting Kiri over his shoulder. "Where can we go that's safe and how do we get rid of this thing?"

The head diver remained calm. He led them away from the battle to a safe distance, and paused to survey the writhing creature. "There's nowhere to go. When gyarados get worked up like this, they don't stop until everything around them is destroyed. We have to beat it into submission, even if that means killing it. Otherwise it won't think twice of leveling Sootopolis."

"So how do we do that?"

He whistled sharply, and all the lanturn and chinchou that joined in on their dives surfaced. "These are all electric types. We're going to have to use Discharge. Everybody get inside."

Daisuke was the only one to continue standing there while the divers quickly dispersed to take shelter in whatever building was closest. "Why's everyone leaving?"

"Discharge is a wild attack," the head diver answered. "It's alright used by one or two pokémon, but if all thirty members of the diving team use it, the entire caldera is going to be a huge electrical free-for all. Once I give the order, even I'm going to wait in the pokémon center for the sparks to die down. You should make sure your partner stays out of the way." He turned to the herd of chinchou and lanturn. "Use Charge!"

Not one of them disobeyed. They spread out from one another, and their orbs all began to glow bright yellow. A spark crawled over one, then another; soon all of them were sparking dangerously.

Gyarados' assault on Exveemon halted. It could feel the air changing from the gathering up of so much electricity. It turned with a vicious roar, and its mouth began to glow a hot yellow-white.

The diver didn't miss it. He grabbed Daisuke and Kiri and drew back. "Scatter!"

The hyper beam cut between them and the startled water pokémon, splitting the lake as it went. Most of the pokémon managed to disperse, but several weren't fast enough to avoid the attack; Daisuke saw them reduced to warped, smoldering husks before his eyes.

The head diver swore under his breath. His remaining forces were still charged and ready, but he had no intention of endangering them by trying a full frontal attack again. "It's smart... Damn it!"

Daisuke studied the large, lithe man's face. It was furious, but the bobbing lump at his throat wasn't from anger. Nor was it from fear. He looked at the floating, black husks of the creatures that had been alive only seconds ago.

His mind was made up. "Exveemon!"

The bruised, but still energetic digimon thudded against the earth. "Daisuke... The diving pokémon..."

"I know, buddy. We need another electric type to act as a diversion. Can you handle that thing as Lighdramon?"

Exveemon looked at the diver and back to Daisuke. He vanished in an instant, replaced by the diminutive form of V-mon. "Ready."

Daisuke knew the head diver was staring; watching him intensely as he chose a digi-egg, and watching his partner assume an evolved form entirely different from the last one.

Lighdramon darted off, running along the sides of the caldera with sparks jumping from his horn, drawing the gyarados' attention.

"Did he just...?"

Yeah," Daisuke answered tersely. "I'll explain it later; I promise. For now, let me help you."

The head diver waited, and they watched for their chance. Lighdramon wasn't striking yet. His entire game was one of evasion. He dashed along the top of the caldera while Gyarados grew more and more enraged. Hyper beam after hyper beam flew into the air, interrupted by short periods of livid thrashing that damaged the carefully sculpted slopes and churned the lake to froth. However, Gyarados was even smarter than they assumed. Before they could make use of the pattern, it began to sway and move in strange spiraling patterns. An eerie light surrounded its body.

Daisuke squinted. "What's it doing?"

"Dragon Dance…Get your partner out of there!"

By the time Daisuke turned, the situation was beyond his control.

Gyarados no longer moved like a bulky sea creature. It ascended the slopes of the caldera with the swift, deadly menace of a viper.

Lighdramon took off, running deftly along the slim cliff edge. He had hoped navigating would slow Gyarados down, but it made up for its inability to properly balance by thrashing violently, chipping and breaking the path as it went. It didn't even seem to notice that it was hurting itself in the process.

Daisuke looked to the head diver. "Can you use Discharge now?"

He shook his head. "They're too high!"

Daisuke cupped his hands around his mouth. "Lighdramon! Try to get it to follow you down here!"

Lightdramon could scarcely hear Daisuke over the wind, but he caught the gist of the message and made a sharp turn, down along the cliff face.

Gyarados howled in rage. It was fast, but not fast enough to travel along the steep upper slopes without falling. It shot explosively forward, destroying the edge of the caldera behind it, and captured Lighdramon in its wide, snarling jaws. Unable to slow itself down, it crashed into the side of the caldera, pulverizing a part of the cliff face. Before the dust had settled, it was headed back to the highest cliffs with its prize in its mouth.

Lighdramon groaned, less impervious to the shock than the berserk sea dragon. He scrabbled his paws weakly against Gyarados' scales, trying to get a sense of his orientation. The sharp pain of fangs puncturing his sides brought his wits back to him, and he struggled in earnest.

"_Lightning Horn_!"

Daisuke heard Gyarados' shriek, and saw the familiar sparks crawling along a burnt patch in Gyarados' side, but he also heard his partner screaming. He grabbed the head diver's arm desperately. "He can't keep this up forever!"

"Not yet!"

"_Lightning Horn_!"

Gyarados' chilling scream.

Lighdramon's howl as Gyarados clenched its teeth tighter and tighter. Blood spilling down over the spikes on his back as they punctured the roof of the sea dragon's mouth.

Daisuke ran for the shore. "Lighdramon!"

Lighdramon did not even think about what had to come next. He arched his back, digging his spikes further into Gyarados' mouth, even as blue sparks crawled and crept between them. "_Blue Thunder_!"

Gyarados' scream ended. It swayed and lurched toward the ground in a moment of disorientation, it's insides buzzing.

Lighdramon's paws touched stone, and he pushed off as powerfully as he could, sending himself and Gyarados flying into the crater.

The head diver grabbed Daisuke and yanked him toward the cover of the pokémon center.

"Chinchou! Lanturn! Use Discharge!"

The last thing Daisuke saw was the depleted school of water pokémon turn to face their target. Even safely inside the pokémon center, the hairs on Daisuke's body stood to attention. The blue-white flash of the released charge was blinding, and the metallic scent of ozone was overpowering. Shapes danced in his eyes as the light faded.

A thunderous crash made him jump. He dashed outside.

The gym in the center of the island had been wrecked. Gyarados had landed on it, and it had caved in under the impact. If it had been alive after the discharge, the fall had killed it. Pulverized stone and splintered support beams fell across its midsection. The tail of it was lost somewhere inside the gym, but the upper portion of its head was submerged. Only the lower half of its still-snarling mouth was visible.

A deep red swirl was spreading into the clear water, dying the sand the fleshy pink of fresh meat.

Daisuke's stomach heaved, and he pitched its contents, just barely managing to avoid his bare feet. He coughed roughly, and wiped his mouth. His voice came out a raspy growl. "V-mon...!"

He dashed forward, and dived into the water. "V-mon! V-mon!"

When he ambled up onto the bank he was out of breath. His stomach churned, and he was immobilized by a fit of fruitless retching.

"Guh..." He breathed carefully, giving himself a moment to settle before continuing.

Gyarados didn't respond to his approach. The creature was frighteningly large, and Daisuke had to carefully maneuver his way up the pile of rubble and splintered beams before he could climb onto its exposed underside.

"V-mon! Answer if you can hear me!" He began to dig through the rubble. "V-MOOOON!"

"—suke..."

He turned sharply, dropping the splintered section of beam in his hand, and slid down Gyarados' side. "V-mon?"

A sputtering noise answered him, and he dashed for the bank.

Chibimon was half submerged, resting against Gyarados' tongue. Daisuke retrieved him quickly, snatching him before some stray reflex could cause any problems. To his horror, it responded by snorting. A fine mist of water sprayed into the air, and it was quiet again.

It wasn't dead.

_No wonder everybody's happier not dealing with these things. _

He turned his attention to his partner. "Are you alright?"

Chibimon gave a low, exhausted sigh. "I haven't felt like this since our first encounter with BlackWarGreymon."

Daisuke laughed breathlessly. "You made it then, so we should be alright this time. I promise I'll get you something good to eat for this."

Chibimon smiled weakly. "Hey... Do you think we'll be chased out again?"

"Let me worry about that. You just rest, buddy."

He said that, but he wasn't really sure what would happen when he crossed back to the other shore. All he knew was that he wouldn't let them do anything to his partner.

"Daaaisuke!"

He turned. Where was that voice coming from? He looked to the shore, suspecting it might be Kiri, but the only ones who had dared to come out yet were the divers. They were looking up at the higher slopes.

Garurumon was sliding down toward him.

"Yamato!"

Iori and Armadimon were atop the striped wolf digimon as well. Given that he had vomited so recently, seeing them made Daisuke feel amazingly light-hearted. He waited on the bank for Garurumon to cross the water and finally reunite the three of them.

"What are you doing in that swim gear?" Yamato asked, before his eyes fell to Chibimon. "What the hell happened?"

Iori was looking at the destroyed back end of the gym, and the gyarados hanging out of it. "Oh God… Is it dead?"

Daisuke shook his head. "I wish. How'd you guys find me?"

"We were actually looking for shelter. There was a little town southwest of here, but almost everyone evacuated. There's a storm rolling this way. A big one. We just happened noticed all the fireworks going on over here and saw Lighdramon."

_So there IS a storm coming. Maybe that's why all the pokemon are missing. _"You know how to get home? What's going on?"

Yamato sighed. "It's kind of a long story. I came from the real world to get you and Iori."

"How urgent is it that we leave?"

Yamato, Iori, Armadimon, and Garurumon all looked at him like he was crazy. "We're not going anywhere. Have you not seen what's going on out there?"

Daisuke looked down at Chibimon, who nodded in agreement. "That's just as well. There's something I need to do before we go."

* * *

The storm was as bad, if not worse, than Iori made it out to be. Dark clouds moved above at ominous speeds, promising an eventual downpour where there was currently only a violent, gusting wind. The deep, rumbling howl of it as it blew over the edges of the caldera stiffened the hairs on Daisuke's neck and sent a violent chill through him. He found himself cold despite being fully dressed and the humid, sticky warmth around him. Perhaps it was the sweat still cooling on his skin after the arduous task of digging a grave for the chinchou and lanturn that had died. It was shallow enough—the occupants would be going to a place called Mt. Pyre after the storm passed—but it had to be covered heavily enough that it wouldn't all end up washed away, and that had required moving some stones.

Or perhaps his chill came from nervousness. Chibimon and his friends were back at the center, while he was there alone with the head diver.

The man was looking at Daisuke with different eyes than before. As promised, Daisuke had revealed everything to him. About who he was. About what Chibimon was. About where he came from, and how he came to Sootopolis. He swore earnestly that his intentions were good; that he thought he was choosing the sane, safe option of waiting quietly to be found after the fiasco in Mossdeep. But it was obvious even to him that something about his partner had enraged the gyarados. V-mon had never set foot in the water to do any more than play in the shallows, but Exveemon had been its goal. Its target. Daisuke didn't know what any of it meant. Perhaps the gyarados had sensed the boy's partner was different. Perhaps their alien presence had caused the whole ordeal.

"I'm sorry," Daisuke whispered, not for the first time, his voice hanging on the thick air.

The head diver sat his hand on the stones covering the grave. "I don't think...that this was your fault. The gyarados came up on its own, for whatever reason, and your... digimon only caught its attention after the fact. You helped, and I dare say things could have gone much worse without your help." The man stood, and looked Daisuke in the eyes seriously. "Still... I think you should leave, Daisuke."

It hurt more than he expected it would, but Daisuke grit his teeth and nodded. The head diver's understanding was a huge relief, but the fact stood that something about V-mon had rubbed a monster like gyarados the wrong way. "There's three of us here now," he said lightly, trying to show he understood. "It's Sootopolis' best interest if we don't draw any more attention. We'll leave immediately."

The man raised a bushy eyebrow. Above, the roar of the wind increased enough that they both looked up. Lightning flashed brightly, darting from cloud to cloud and illuminating the sky just as a long, serpentine shape flew threw it.

Daisuke shook unconsciously. "Wh...what—?"

The head diver grabbed him by the shoulders, ushering him back toward the pokemon center. "Come on. You're a good boy, and I'm not putting you out in this weather, but keep your head down, and don't draw anymore attention!"

Daisuke realized that this man, who had remained in control of himself the face of gyarados, was terrified. Somehow, that was more chilling than the first drops of rain, whipping in unnatural directions on the wind.


End file.
